Dynamic triggering of block-level backups based on block change thresholds and corresponding file identities using communication pathways between co-resident data agents

ABSTRACT

A data storage management approach is disclosed that performs backup operations flexibly, based on a dynamic scheme of monitoring block changes occurring in production data. The illustrative system monitors block changes based on certain block-change thresholds and triggers block-level backups of the changed blocks when a threshold is passed. Block changes may be monitored in reference to particular files based on a reverse lookup mechanism. The illustrative system also collects and stores historical information on block changes, which may be used for reporting and predictive analysis.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/235,423 entitled “DYNAMIC TRIGGERING OF BLOCK-LEVEL BACKUPS BASED ON BLOCK CHANGE THRESHOLDS AND CORRESPONDING FILE IDENTITIES” and filed on Sep. 30, 2015. Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet of the present application are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document and/or the patent disclosure as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent file and/or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

Businesses recognize the commercial value of their data and seek reliable, cost-effective ways to protect the information stored on their computer networks while minimizing impact on productivity. A company might back up critical computing systems such as databases, file servers, web servers, virtual machines, and so on as part of a daily, weekly, or monthly maintenance schedule. The company may similarly protect computing systems used by its employees, such as those used by an accounting department, marketing department, engineering department, and so forth. Given the rapidly expanding volume of data under management, companies also continue to seek innovative techniques for managing data growth, for example by migrating data to lower-cost storage over time, reducing redundant data, pruning lower priority data, etc. Enterprises also increasingly view their stored data as a valuable asset and look for solutions that not only protect and manage, but also leverage their data. For instance, data analysis capabilities, information management, improved data presentation and access features, and the like, are in increasing demand.

SUMMARY

Traditionally, backup operations occur on pre-administered schedules, e.g., weekly full backups and daily incremental backups. These scheduled operations are not sensitive to frequently changing data. Therefore, frequently changing data may not be backed up as often as it might be, which increases risk to the organization. Conversely, rarely changing data may be analyzed and backed up more than necessary according to schedule. In larger systems, the result of this approach may be that the central controller that manages backup operations (the “storage manager”) becomes overloaded with backup jobs that could wait.

The present inventors devised a data storage management approach that performs backup operations flexibly, based on a dynamic scheme of monitoring data block changes occurring in “live” production data. Block changes typically result from write operations performed by applications (e.g., add, change, delete). Rather than triggering backups on a schedule, the system according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention monitors data block changes based on certain block-change thresholds. When a threshold is passed (e.g., a measure of changed blocks is exceeded), the illustrative system triggers a backup operation for the changed blocks. The backup operation is a block-level backup. The illustrative dynamic scheme may reduce the processing load on the storage manager so that it may respond more flexibly to changing conditions according to block changes.

The illustrative system not only triggers backups dynamically based on block-change monitoring, but also collects and stores historical information on block changes, which may be used for reporting and predictive analysis. Block-change patterns may be analyzed with a view to accommodating data growth. For example, the illustrative system may identify a pattern of data growth attributable to a certain application in the system. Based on the pattern, the illustrative system may predict future storage needs for the application. For example, the illustrative system may identify data storage devices that experience above-average block changes and thus may be candidates for load balancing or network reconfiguration.

Moreover, a novel communication architecture between data agents that operate in the illustrative system enables reverse lookup operations for identifying block-to-file relationships. Ordinarily, block-level monitoring and block-level backups are ignorant of file boundaries, file identities, and file system organization. The illustrative system is configured to discover the identity of a file based on the identity of the changed blocks being monitored.

Because of the reverse lookup capability, block-change thresholds may be established based on file identity, so that block changes in a certain file may trigger block-level backups of the changed blocks. Notably, according to the illustrative embodiment, neither the file nor the volume in which the file resides is backed up in its entirety, thus creating a more focused and efficient backup scheme than traditional file-level or volume-image backups. The disclosed scheme preserves the ability to flag and monitor files of interest such as files containing sensitive information (e.g., a password file, a customer configuration file, etc.) while also taking advantage of the efficiency of block-level backups that address only the changed blocks in those special files. Thus, the illustrative system provides “the best of both worlds” by providing the possibility of file-level monitoring and the efficiency of block-level backups as needed.

Likewise, the illustrative system also may monitor certain applications, e.g., a database management system, an email service, etc. The system may identify which applications cause the most or most frequent block changes and may dynamically trigger block-level backups when thresholds are passed. Again, the present scheme provides added levels of granular information and flexible control over backup operations.

The illustrative system supports pre-administered (canned) and on-demand queries regarding block changes. The queries may be wide-ranging or focused. Illustrative query parameters may include particular data storage devices and/or volumes; file identifiers; folder identifiers; application identifiers; and/or time periods; etc. The queries also may request analysis and prediction based on historical block-change activity collected by the illustrative system.

The present disclosure provides more details on illustrative components and methods for the exemplary system. For instance, the illustrative system comprises an enhanced storage manager, a report server, an index server, enhanced file system data agents, and enhanced application-specific block-level data agents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary information management system.

FIG. 1B is a detailed view of a primary storage device, a secondary storage device, and some examples of primary data and secondary copy data.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of an exemplary information management system including a storage manager, one or more data agents, and one or more media agents.

FIG. 1D is a block diagram illustrating a scalable information management system.

FIG. 1E illustrates certain secondary copy operations according to an exemplary storage policy.

FIGS. 1F-1H are block diagrams illustrating suitable data structures that may be employed by the information management system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating some salient portions of a data storage management system 200 for dynamic triggering of block-level backups based on block change thresholds and corresponding file identities, according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating certain details of system 200.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating suitable data structures for storing information relating to block-change tracking in block information database 362 in system 200.

FIG. 5 depicts some salient operations of a method 500 according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 depicts some salient operations of a method 600 according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 depicts some salient operations of a method 700 according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 depicts some salient operations of a method 800 according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Detailed descriptions and examples of systems and methods according to one or more illustrative embodiments of the present invention may be found in the section entitled DYNAMIC TRIGGERING OF BLOCK-LEVEL BACKUPS BASED ON BLOCK CHANGE THRESHOLDS AND CORRESPONDING FILE IDENTITIES, as well as in the section entitled Example Embodiments, and also in FIGS. 2-8 herein. Furthermore, components and functionality for dynamic triggering of block-level backups based on block change thresholds and corresponding file identities may be configured and/or incorporated into information management systems such as those described herein in FIGS. 1A-1H.

Various embodiments described herein are intimately tied to, enabled by, and would not exist except for, computer technology. For example, ongoing monitoring of write operations and transmission of point-in-time bitmaps described herein in reference to various embodiments cannot reasonably be performed by humans without the computer technology upon which they are implemented. Likewise in regard to block change data analysis, reporting, and prediction.

Information Management System Overview

With the increasing importance of protecting and leveraging data, organizations simply cannot risk losing critical data. Moreover, runaway data growth and other modern realities make protecting and managing data increasingly difficult. There is therefore a need for efficient, powerful, and user-friendly solutions for protecting and managing data. Depending on the size of the organization, there may be many data production sources which are under the purview of tens, hundreds, or even thousands of individuals. In the past, individuals were sometimes responsible for managing and protecting their own data, and a patchwork of hardware and software point solutions may have been used in any given organization. These solutions were often provided by different vendors and had limited or no interoperability. Certain embodiments described herein address these and other shortcomings of prior approaches by implementing scalable, unified, organization-wide information management, including data storage management.

FIG. 1A shows one such information management system 100 (or “system 100”), which generally includes combinations of hardware and software configured to protect and manage data and metadata that are generated and used by computing devices in system 100. System 100 may be referred to in some embodiments as a “storage management system” and the operations it performs may be referred to as “information management operations” or “storage operations” in some circumstances. The organization that employs system 100 may be a corporation or other business entity, non-profit organization, educational institution, household, governmental agency, or the like.

Generally, the systems and associated components described herein may be compatible with and/or provide some or all of the functionality of the systems and corresponding components described in one or more of the following U.S. patents and patent application publications assigned to Commvault Systems, Inc., each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety herein:

-   -   U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,478, entitled “Systems and Methods for         Transferring Data in a Block-Level Storage Operation;”     -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, entitled “Modular Backup and Retrieval         System Used in Conjunction With a Storage Area Network”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,298, entitled “System And Method For         Archiving Objects In An Information Store”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, entitled “System and Method for         Dynamically Performing Storage Operations in a Computer         Network”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,315,923, entitled “System And Method For         Combining Data Streams In Pipelined Storage Operations In A         Storage Network”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, entitled “Hierarchical Systems and         Methods for Providing a Unified View of Storage Information”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,282, entitled “Hierarchical Backup and         Retrieval System”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782, entitled “System and Methods for         Performing a Snapshot and for Restoring Data”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, entitled “System and Methods for         Monitoring Application Data in a Data Replication System”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,734,669, entitled “Managing Copies Of Data”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,579, entitled “Metabase for Facilitating         Data Classification”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,086, entitled “Systems And Methods For         Stored Data Verification”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, entitled “Method and System for Offline         Indexing of Content and Classifying Stored Data”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, entitled “System And Method For         Performing Auxiliary Storage Operations”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,681, entitled “Data Object Store and Server         for a Cloud Storage Environment, Including Data Deduplication         and Data Management Across Multiple Cloud Storage Sites”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,177, entitled “Systems And Methods For         Management Of Virtualization Data”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652, entitled “Content-Aligned, Block-Based         Deduplication”;     -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,578,120, entitled “Block-Level Single         Instancing”;     -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846, entitled “System and Method to         Support Single Instance Storage Operations”;     -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0319534, entitled “Application-Aware and         Remote Single Instance Data Management”;     -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2010/0070474, entitled “Transferring or         Migrating Portions of Data Objects, such as Block-Level Data         Migration or Chunk-Based Data Migration;”     -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150818, entitled “Client-Side         Repository in a Networked Deduplicated Storage System”; and     -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, entitled “Distributed         Deduplicated Storage System”; and     -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2014/0201152, entitled “Systems and Methods         to Process Block-Level Backup for Selective File Restoration for         Virtual Machines.”

Information management system 100 can include a variety of computing devices and computing technologies. For instance, system 100 can include one or more client computing devices 102 and secondary storage computing devices 106, as well as storage manager 140 or a host computing device for it. Computing devices can include, without limitation, one or more: workstations, personal computers, desktop computers, or other types of generally fixed computing systems such as mainframe computers, servers, and minicomputers. Other computing devices can include mobile or portable computing devices, such as one or more laptops, tablet computers, personal data assistants, mobile phones (such as smartphones), and other mobile or portable computing devices such as embedded computers, set top boxes, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable computers, etc. Servers can include mail servers, file servers, database servers, and web servers. Computing devices may comprise one or more processors (e.g., CPU and/or single-core or multi-core processors), as well as non-transitory computer-readable memory (e.g., random-access memory (RAM)) for storing computer programs to be executed by the one or more processors. Other computer-readable memory for mass storage of data may be packaged/configured with the computing device (e.g., an internal hard disk) and/or may be external to and accessible by the computing device (e.g., network-attached storage).

In some cases, a computing device includes cloud computing resources, which may be virtual machines. For instance, one or more virtual machines may be provided to the organization by a third-party cloud service vendor. In some embodiments, computing devices can include one or more virtual machine(s) running on a physical host computing device (or “host machine”) operated by the organization. As one example, the organization may use one virtual machine as a database server and another virtual machine as a mail server, both virtual machines operating on the same host machine.

A virtual machine includes an operating system and associated virtual resources, and is hosted simultaneously with another operating system on a physical host computer (or host machine). A hypervisor (typically software, and also known in the art as a virtual machine monitor or a virtual machine manager or “VMM”) sits between the virtual machine and the hardware of the physical host machine. Examples of hypervisors as virtualization software include ESX Server, by VMware, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif.; Microsoft Virtual Server and Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V, both by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.; and Sun xVM by Oracle America Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. In some embodiments, the hypervisor may be firmware or hardware or a combination of software and/or firmware and/or hardware. The hypervisor provides resources to each virtual operating system such as a virtual processor, virtual memory, a virtual network device, and a virtual disk. Each virtual machine has one or more virtual disks. The hypervisor typically stores the data of virtual disks in files on the file system of the physical host machine, called virtual machine disk files (in VMware lingo) or virtual hard disk image files (in Microsoft lingo). For example, VMware's ESX Server provides the Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) for the storage of virtual machine disk files. A virtual machine reads data from and writes data to its virtual disk much the e way that a physical machine reads data from and writes data to a physical disk. Examples of techniques for implementing information management in a cloud computing environment are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,681. Examples of techniques for implementing information management in a virtualized computing environment are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,177.

Information management system 100 can also include a variety of electronic data storage devices, generally used for mass storage of data, including, e.g., primary storage devices 104 and secondary storage devices 108. Storage devices can generally be of any suitable type including, without limitation, disk drives, storage arrays (e.g., storage-area network (SAN) and/or network-attached storage (NAS) technology), semiconductor memory (e.g., solid state storage devices), network attached storage (NAS) devices, tape libraries or other magnetic, non-tape storage devices, optical media storage devices, DNA/RNA-based memory technology, combinations of the same, etc. In some embodiments, storage devices can form part of a distributed file system. In some cases, storage devices are provided in a cloud storage environment (e.g., a private cloud or one operated by a third-party vendor), whether for primary data or secondary copies or both.

Depending on context, the term “information management system” can refer to generally all of the illustrated hardware and software components in FIG. 1C, or the term may refer to only a subset of the illustrated components. For instance, in some cases, system 100 generally refers to a combination of specialized components used to protect, move, manage, manipulate, analyze, and/or process data and metadata generated by client computing devices 102. However, system 100 in some cases does not include the underlying components that generate and/or store primary data 112, such as the client computing devices 102 themselves, and the primary storage devices 104. Likewise secondary storage devices 108 (e.g., a third-party provided cloud storage environment) may not be part of system 100. As an example, “information management system” may sometimes refer to one or more of the following components, which will be described in further detail below: storage manager, data agent, and media agent.

Information management system 100 includes one or more client computing devices 102 having an operating system and at least one application 110 executing thereon; and one or more primary storage devices 104 storing primary data 112. Client computing device(s) 102 and primary storage devices 104 may generally be referred to in some cases as primary storage subsystem 117.

Client Computing Devices, Clients, and Subclients

Typically, a variety of sources in an organization produce data to be protected and managed. As just one illustrative example, in a corporate environment such data sources can be employee workstations and company servers such as a mail server, a web server, a database server, a transaction server, or the like. In system 100, data generation sources include one or more client computing devices 102. A computing device that has a data agent 142 installed and operating on it is generally referred to as a “client computing device” 102, and may include any type of computing device, without limitation. A client computing device 102 may be associated with one or more users and/or user accounts.

A “client” is a logical component of information management system 100, which may represent a logical grouping of one or more agents installed on a client computing device 102. Storage manager 140 recognizes a client as a component of system 100, and in some embodiments, may automatically create a client component the first time a data agent 142 is installed on a client computing device 102. Because data generated by executable component(s) 110 is tracked by the associated data agent 142 so that it may be properly protected in system 100, a client may be said to generate data and to store the generated data to primary storage, such as primary storage device 104. However, the terms “client” and “client computing device” as used herein do not imply that a client computing device 102 is necessarily configured in the client/server sense relative to another computing device such as a mail server, or that a client computing device 102 cannot be a server in its own right. As just a few examples, a client computing device 102 can be and/or include mail servers, file servers, database servers, and web servers.

Each client computing device 102 may have application(s) 110 executing thereon which generate and manipulate the data that is to be protected from loss and managed in system 100. Applications 110 generally facilitate the operations of an organization, and can include, without limitation, mail server applications (e.g., Microsoft Exchange Server), file server applications, mail client applications (e.g., Microsoft Exchange Client), database applications or database management systems (e.g., SQL, Oracle, SAP, Lotus Notes Database), word processing applications (e.g., Microsoft Word), spreadsheet applications, financial applications, presentation applications, graphics and/or video applications, browser applications, mobile applications, entertainment applications, and so on. Each application 110 may be accompanied by an application-specific data agent 142. A file system, e.g., Microsoft Windows Explorer, may be considered an application 110 and may be accompanied by its own data agent 142. Client computing devices 102 can have at least one operating system (e.g., Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, IBM z/OS, Linux, other Unix-based operating systems, etc.) installed thereon, which may support or host one or more file systems and other applications 110. In some embodiments, a virtual machine that executes on a host client computing device 102 may be considered an application 110 and may be accompanied by a specific data agent 142 (e.g., virtual server data agent).

Client computing devices 102 and other components in system 100 can be connected to one another via one or more electronic communication pathways 114. For example, a first communication pathway 114 may communicatively couple client computing device 102 and secondary storage computing device 106; a second communication pathway 114 may communicatively couple storage manager 140 and client computing device 102; and a third communication pathway 114 may communicatively couple storage manager 140 and secondary storage computing device 106, etc. (see, e.g., FIG. 1A and FIG. 1C). A communication pathway 114 can include one or more networks or other connection types including one or more of the following, without limitation: the Internet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a Storage Area Network (SAN), a Fibre Channel (FC) connection, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) connection, a virtual private network (VPN), a token ring or TCP/IP based network, an intranet network, a point-to-point link, a cellular network, a wireless data transmission system, a two-way cable system, an interactive kiosk network, a satellite network, a broadband network, a baseband network, a neural network, a mesh network, an ad hoc network, other appropriate computer or telecommunications networks, combinations of the same or the like. Communication pathways 114 in some cases may also include application programming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g., cloud service provider APIs, virtual machine management APIs, and hosted service provider APIs. The underlying infrastructure of communication pathways 114 may be wired and/or wireless, analog and/or digital, or any combination thereof; and the facilities used may be private, public, third-party provided, or any combination thereof, without limitation.

A “subclient” is a logical grouping of all or part of a client's primary data 112. In general a subclient may be defined according to how the subclient data is to be protected as a unit in system 100. For example, a subclient may be associated with a certain storage policy. A given client may thus comprise several subclients, each subclient associated with a different storage policy. For example, some files may form a first subclient that requires compression and deduplication and is associated with a first storage policy. Other files of the client may form a second subclient that requires a different retention schedule as well as encryption, and may be associated with a different, second storage policy. As a result, though the primary data may be generated by the same application 110, and may belong to one given client, portions of the data may be assigned to different subclients for distinct treatment by the information management system. More detail on subclients is given in regard to storage policies below.

Primary Data and Exemplary Primary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 is generally production data or other “live” data generated by the operating system and/or applications 110 executing on client computing device 102. Primary data 112 is generally stored on primary storage device(s) 104 and is organized via a file system operating on the client computing device 102. Thus, client computing device(s) 102 and corresponding applications 110 may create, access, modify, write, delete, and otherwise use primary data 112. Primary data 112 is generally in the native format of the source application 110. According to certain aspects, primary data 112 is an initial or first stored body of data generated by the source application 110. Primary data 112 in some cases is created substantially directly from data generated by the corresponding source application 110.

Primary storage devices 104 storing primary data 112 may be relatively fast and/or expensive technology (e.g., a disk drive, a hard-disk storage array, solid state memory, etc.), typically because they must support high-performance live production environments. Primary data 112 may be highly changeable and/or may be intended for relatively short term retention (e.g., hours, days, or weeks). According to some embodiments, client computing device 102 can access primary data 112 stored in primary storage device 104 by making conventional file system calls via the operating system. Primary data 112 may include structured data (e.g., database files), unstructured data (e.g., documents), and/or semi-structured data. See, e.g., FIG. 1B.

It can be useful in performing certain tasks to organize primary data 112 into units of different granularities. In general, primary data 112 can include files, directories, file system volumes, data blocks, extents, or any other hierarchies or organizations of data objects. As used herein, a “data object” can refer to (i) any file that is currently addressable by a file system or that was previously addressable by the file system (e.g., an archive file), and (ii) a subset of such a file (e.g., a data block, an extent, etc.).

It can also be useful in performing certain functions of system 100 to access and modify metadata within primary data 112. Metadata generally includes information about data objects and/or characteristics associated with the data objects. For simplicity herein, it is to be understood that, unless expressly stated otherwise, any reference to primary data 112 generally also includes its associated metadata, but references to metadata generally do not include the primary data. Metadata can include, without limitation, one or more of the following: the data owner (e.g., the client or user that generates the data), the last modified time (e.g., the time of the most recent modification of the data object), a data object name (e.g., a file name), a data object size (e.g., a number of bytes of data), information about the content (e.g., an indication as to the existence of a particular search term), user-supplied tags, to/from information for email (e.g., an email sender, recipient, etc.), creation date, file type (e.g., format or application type), last accessed time, application type (e.g., type of application that generated the data object), location/network (e.g., a current, past or future location of the data object and network pathways to/from the data object), geographic location (e.g., GPS coordinates), frequency of change (e.g., a period in which the data object is modified), business unit (e.g., a group or department that generates, manages or is otherwise associated with the data object), aging information (e.g., a schedule, such as a time period, in which the data object is migrated to secondary or long term storage), boot sectors, partition layouts, file location within a file folder directory structure, user permissions, owners, groups, access control lists (ACLs), system metadata (e.g., registry information), combinations of the same or other similar information related to the data object. In addition to metadata generated by or related to file systems and operating systems, some applications 110 and/or other components of system 100 maintain indices of metadata for data objects, e.g., metadata associated with individual email messages. The use of metadata to perform classification and other functions is described in greater detail below.

Each client computing device 102 is generally associated with and/or in communication with one or more primary storage devices 104 storing corresponding primary data 112. A client computing device 102 may be considered to be associated with or in communication with a primary storage device 104 if it is capable of one or more of: routing and/or storing data (e.g., primary data 112) to the particular primary storage device 104, coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particular primary storage device 104, retrieving data from the particular primary storage device 104, coordinating the retrieval of data from the particular primary storage device 104, and modifying and/or deleting data in the particular primary storage device 104. A client computing device 102 may be said to access data stored in an associated storage device 104.

Primary storage device 104 may be dedicated or shared. In some cases, each primary storage device 104 is dedicated to an associated client computing device 102, e.g., a local disk drive. In other cases, one or more primary storage devices 104 can be shared by multiple client computing devices 102, e.g., via a local network, in a cloud storage implementation, etc. As one example, primary storage device 104 can be a storage array shared by a group of client computing devices 102, such as EMC Clariion, EMC Symmetrix, EMC Celerra, Dell EqualLogic, IBM XIV, NetApp FAS, HP EVA, and HP 3PAR.

Information management system 100 may also include hosted services (not shown), which may be hosted in some cases by an entity other than the organization that employs the other components of system 100. For instance, the hosted services may be provided by online service providers. Such service providers can provide social networking services, hosted email services, or hosted productivity applications or other hosted applications such as software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), application service providers (ASPs), cloud services, or other mechanisms for delivering functionality via a network. As it services users, each hosted service may generate additional data and metadata, which may be managed by system 100, e.g., as primary data 112. In some cases, the hosted services may be accessed using one of the applications 110. As an example, a hosted mail service may be accessed via browser running on a client computing device 102.

Secondary Copies and Exemplary Secondary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 stored on primary storage devices 104 may be compromised in some cases, such as when an employee deliberately or accidentally deletes or overwrites primary data 112. Or primary storage devices 104 can be damaged, lost, or otherwise corrupted. For recovery and/or regulatory compliance purposes, it is therefore useful to generate and maintain copies of primary data 112. Accordingly, system 100 includes one or more secondary storage computing devices 106 and one or more secondary storage devices 108 configured to create and store one or more secondary copies 116 of primary data 112 including its associated metadata. The secondary storage computing devices 106 and the secondary storage devices 108 may be referred to as secondary storage subsystem 118.

Creation of secondary copies 116 can help in search and analysis efforts and meet other information management goals as well, such as: restoring data and/or metadata if an original version is lost (e.g., by deletion, corruption, or disaster); allowing point-in-time recovery; complying with regulatory data retention and electronic discovery (e-discovery) requirements; reducing utilized storage capacity in the production system and/or in secondary storage; facilitating organization and search of data; improving user access to data files across multiple computing devices and/or hosted services; and implementing data retention policies.

A secondary copy 116 can comprise a separate stored copy of data that is derived from one or more earlier-created stored copies (e.g., derived from primary data 112 or from another secondary copy 116). Secondary copies 116 can include point-in-time data, and may be intended for relatively long-term retention, before some or all of the data is moved to other storage or discarded. In some cases, a secondary copy 116 may be in a different storage device than other previously stored copies; and/or may be remote from other previously stored copies. Secondary copies 116 can be stored in the same storage device as primary data 112. For example, a disk array capable of performing hardware snapshots stores primary data 112 and creates and stores hardware snapshots of the primary data 112 as secondary copies 116. Secondary copies 116 may be stored in relatively slow and/or lower cost storage (e.g., magnetic tape). A secondary copy 116 may be stored in a backup or archive format, or in some other format different from the native source application format or other format of primary data 112.

Secondary storage computing devices 106 may index secondary copies 116 (e.g., using a media agent 144), so that users can browse and restore at a later time. After creation of a secondary copy 116 representative of certain primary data 112, a pointer or other location indicia (e.g., a stub) may be placed in primary data 112, or be otherwise associated with primary data 112, to indicate the current location on secondary storage device(s) 108 of a particular secondary copy 116.

Since an instance of a data object or metadata in primary data 112 may change over time as it is modified by application 110 (or hosted service or the operating system), system 100 may create and manage multiple secondary copies 116 of a particular data object or metadata, each copy representing the state of the data object in primary data 112 at a particular point in time. Moreover, since an instance of a data object in primary data 112 may eventually be deleted from primary storage device 104 and the file system, system 100 may continue to manage point-in-time representations of that data object, even though the instance in primary data 112 no longer exists.

For virtual machines, the operating system and other applications 110 of client computing device(s) 102 may execute within or under the management of virtualization software (e.g., a VMM), and the primary storage device(s) 104 may comprise a virtual disk created on a physical storage device. System 100 may create secondary copies 116 of the files or other data objects in a virtual disk file and/or secondary copies 116 of the entire virtual disk file itself (e.g., of an entire .vmdk file).

Secondary copies 116 may be distinguished from corresponding primary data 112. First, secondary copies 116 can be stored in a different format (e.g., backup, archive, or other non-native format) than primary data 112. For this or other reasons, secondary copies 116 may not be directly useable by applications 110 or client computing device 102 (e.g., via standard system calls or otherwise) without modification, processing, or other intervention by system 100 which may be referred to as “restore” operations. Secondary copies 116 may have been processed by data agent 142 and/or media agent 144 in the course of being created (e.g., compression, deduplication, encryption, integrity markers, indexing, formatting, etc.), and thus secondary copy 116 may represent source primary data 112 without necessarily being exactly identical to the source.

Second, secondary copies 116 may be stored on a secondary storage device 108 that is inaccessible to application 110 running on client computing device 102 and/or hosted service. Some secondary copies 116 may be “offline copies,” in that they are not readily available (e.g., not mounted to tape or disk). Offline copies can include copies of data that system 100 can access without human intervention (e.g., tapes within an automated tape library, but not yet mounted in a drive), and copies that the system 100 can access only with some human intervention (e.g., tapes located at an offsite storage site).

Using Intermediate Devices for Creating Secondary Copies—Secondary Storage Computing Devices

Creating secondary copies can be challenging. For instance, hundreds or thousands of client computing devices 102 may be continually generating large volumes of primary data 112 to be protected. Also, there can be significant overhead involved in the creation of secondary copies 116. Moreover, secondary storage devices 108 may be special-purpose components, and devices that write to, read from, or otherwise interact with secondary storage devices 108, such as secondary storage computing devices 106 and corresponding media agents 144, may require specialized programmed intelligence and/or hardware capability. Client computing devices 102 may interact directly with a secondary storage device 108 to create secondary copies 116; however, in view of the factors described above, this approach can negatively impact the ability of client computing device 102 to serve/service application 110 and produce primary data 112. Further, any given client computing device 102 may not be optimized for interaction with certain secondary storage devices 108.

Thus, information management system 100 may include one or more software and/or hardware components which generally act as intermediaries between client computing devices 102 (that generate primary data 112) and secondary storage devices 108 (that store secondary copies 116). In addition to off-loading certain responsibilities from client computing devices 102, these intermediate components can provide other benefits. For instance, as discussed further below with respect to FIG. 1D, distributing some of the work involved in creating secondary copies 116 can enhance scalability and improve system performance. For instance, using specialized secondary storage computing devices 106 and media agents 144 for interfacing with secondary storage devices 108 and/or for performing certain data processing operations can greatly improve the speed with which system 100 performs information management operations and can also improve the capacity of the system to handle large numbers of such operations, while reducing the computational load on the production environment of client computing devices 102. The intermediate components can include one or more secondary storage computing devices 106 as shown in FIG. 1A and/or one or more media agents 144. Media agents are discussed further below (e.g., with respect to FIGS. 1C-1E).

Secondary storage computing device(s) 106 can comprise any of the computing devices described above, without limitation. In some cases, secondary storage computing device(s) 106 also include specialized hardware and/or software componentry for interacting with certain secondary storage device(s) 108 with which they may be specially associated.

To create a secondary copy 116 involving the copying of data from primary storage subsystem 117 to secondary storage subsystem 118, client computing device 102 may communicate the primary data 112 to be copied (or a processed version thereof) to the designated secondary storage computing device 106, via a communication pathway 114. Secondary storage computing device 106 in turn may perform further processing and may convey the data (or a processed version thereof) to secondary storage device 108. One or more secondary copies 116 may be created from existing secondary copies 116, such as in the case of an auxiliary copy operation, described further below.

Exemplary Primary Data and an Exemplary Secondary Copy

FIG. 1B is a detailed view showing some specific examples of primary data stored on primary storage device(s) 104 and secondary copy data stored on secondary storage device(s) 108, with other components of the system removed for the purposes of illustration. Stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 are primary data 112 objects including word processing documents 119A-B, spreadsheets 120, presentation documents 122, video files 124, image files 126, email mailboxes 128 (and corresponding email messages 129A-C), html/xml or other types of markup language files 130, databases 132 and corresponding tables or other data structures 133A-133C). Some or all primary data 112 objects are associated with corresponding metadata (e.g., “Meta1-11”), which may include file system metadata and/or application-specific metadata. Stored on the secondary storage device(s) 108 are secondary copy 116 data objects 134A-C which may include copies of or may otherwise represent corresponding primary data 112.

Secondary copy data objects 134A-C can individually represent more than one primary data object. For example, secondary copy data object 134A represents three separate primary data objects 133C, 122, and 129C (represented as 133C′, 122′, and 129C′, respectively, and accompanied by corresponding metadata Meta11, Meta3, and Meta8, respectively). Moreover, as indicated by the prime mark (′), secondary storage computing devices 106 or other components in secondary storage subsystem 118 may process the data received from primary storage subsystem 117 and store a secondary copy including a transformed and/or supplemented representation of a primary data object and/or metadata that is different from the original format, e.g., in a compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, or other modified format. For instance, secondary storage computing devices 106 can generate new metadata or other information based on said processing, and store the newly generated information along with the secondary copies. Secondary copy data object 134B represents primary data objects 120, 133B, and 119A as 120′, 133B′, and 119A′, respectively, accompanied by corresponding metadata Meta2, Meta10, and Meta1, respectively. Also, secondary copy data object 134C represents primary data objects 133A, 119B, and 129A as 133A′, 119B′, and 129A′, respectively, accompanied by corresponding metadata Meta9, Meta5, and Meta6, respectively.

Exemplary Information Management System Architecture

Information management system 100 can incorporate a variety of different hardware and software components, which can in turn be organized with respect to one another in many different configurations, depending on the embodiment. There are critical design choices involved in specifying the functional responsibilities of the components and the role of each component in system 100. Such design choices can impact performance as well as the adaptability of system 100 to data growth and other changing circumstances.

FIG. 1C shows an information management system 100 designed according to these considerations and which includes: storage manager 140, one or more data agents 142 executing on client computing device(s) 102 and configured to process primary data 112, and one or more media agents 144 executing on the one or more secondary storage computing devices 106 for performing tasks involving the secondary storage devices 108.

Storage Manager

Storage manager 140 is a centralized storage and/or information manager that is configured to perform certain control functions and also to store certain critical information about system 100. As noted, the number of components in system 100 and the amount of data under management can be large. Managing the components and data is therefore a significant task, which can grow unpredictably as the number of components and data scale to meet the needs of the organization. For these and other reasons, according to certain embodiments, responsibility for controlling system 100, or at least a significant portion of that responsibility, is allocated to storage manager 140. Storage manager 140 can be adapted independently according to changing circumstances, without having to replace or re-design the remainder of the system. Moreover, a computing device for hosting and/or operating as storage manager 140 can be selected to best suit the functions and networking needs of storage manager 140. These and other advantages are described in further detail below and with respect to FIG. 1D.

Storage manager 140 may be a software module or other application, which, in some embodiments operates in conjunction with one or more associated data structures such as a dedicated database (e.g., management database 146). In some embodiments, storage manager 140 is itself a computing device that performs the functions described herein. The storage manager generally initiates, performs, coordinates and/or controls storage and other information management operations performed by the system 100, e.g., to protect and control primary data 112 and secondary copies 116. In general, storage manager 100 may be said to manage information management system 100, which includes managing constituent components such as data agents and media agents, etc.

As shown by the dashed arrowed lines 114 in FIG. 1C, storage manager 140 may communicate with and/or control some or all elements of the information management system 100, such as data agents 142 and media agents 144. In this manner, storage manager 140 may control the operation of various hardware and software components in system 100. In certain embodiments, control information originates from storage manager 140 and status as well as index reporting is transmitted to storage manager 140 by the managed components, whereas payload data and metadata are generally communicated between data agents 142 and media agents 144 (or otherwise between client computing device(s) 102 and secondary storage computing device(s) 106), e.g., at the direction of and under the management of storage manager 140. Control information can generally include parameters and instructions for carrying out information management operations, such as, without limitation, instructions to perform a task associated with an operation, timing information specifying when to initiate a task, data path information specifying what components to communicate with or access in carrying out an operation, and the like. In other embodiments, some information management operations are controlled or initiated by other components of system 100 (e.g., by media agents 144 or data agents 142), instead of or in combination with storage manager 140.

According to certain embodiments, storage manager 140 provides one or more of the following functions:

-   -   communicating with data agents 142 and media agents 144,         including transmitting instructions, messages, and/or queries,         as well as receiving status reports, index information,         messages, and/or queries, and responding to same;     -   initiating execution of information management operations;     -   initiating restore and recovery operations;     -   managing secondary storage devices 108 and inventory/capacity of         the same;     -   allocating secondary storage devices 108 for secondary copy         operations;     -   reporting, searching, and/or classification of data in system         100;     -   monitoring completion of and status reporting related to         information management operations and jobs;     -   tracking movement of data within system 100;     -   tracking age information relating to secondary copies 116,         secondary storage devices 108, comparing the age information         against retention guidelines, and initiating data pruning when         appropriate;     -   tracking logical associations between components in system 100;     -   protecting metadata associated with system 100, e.g., in         management database 146;     -   implementing job management, schedule management, event         management, alert management, reporting, job history         maintenance, user security management, disaster recovery         management, and/or user interfacing for system administrators         and/or end users of system 100;     -   sending, searching, and/or viewing of log files; and     -   implementing operations management functionality.

Storage manager 140 may maintain an associated database 146 (or “storage manager database 146” or “management database 146”) of management-related data and information management policies 148. Database 146 can be stored in computer memory accessible by storage manager 140. Database 146 may include a management index 150 (or “index 150”) or other data structure(s) that may store: logical associations between components of the system; user preferences and/or profiles (e.g., preferences regarding encryption, compression, or deduplication of primary data or secondary copies; preferences regarding the scheduling, type, or other aspects of secondary copy or other operations; mappings of particular information management users or user accounts to certain computing devices or other components, etc.; management tasks; media containerization; or other useful data. For example, storage manager 140 may use index 150 to track logical associations between media agents 144 and secondary storage devices 108 and/or movement of data from primary storage devices 104 to secondary storage devices 108. For instance, index 150 may store data associating a client computing device 102 with a particular media agent 144 and/or secondary storage device 108, as specified in an information management policy 148.

Administrators and others may configure and initiate certain information management operations on an individual basis. But while this may be acceptable for some recovery operations or other infrequent tasks, it is often not workable for implementing ongoing organization-wide data protection and management. Thus, system 100 may utilize information management policies 148 for specifying and executing information management operations on an automated basis. Generally, an information management policy 148 can include a stored data structure or other information source that specifies parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with storage management or other information management operations. Storage manager 140 can process an information management policy 148 and/or index 150 and, based on the results, identify an information management operation to perform, identify the appropriate components in system 100 to be involved in the operation (e.g., client computing devices 102 and corresponding data agents 142, secondary storage computing devices 106 and corresponding media agents 144, etc.), establish connections to those components and/or between those components, and/or instruct and control those components to carry out the operation. In this manner, system 100 can translate stored information into coordinated activity among the various computing devices in system 100.

Management database 146 may maintain information management policies 148 and associated data, although information management policies 148 can be stored in computer memory at any appropriate location outside management database 146. For instance, an information management policy 148 such as a storage policy may be stored as metadata in a media agent database 152 or in a secondary storage device 108 (e.g., as an archive copy) for use in restore or other information management operations, depending on the embodiment. Information management policies 148 are described further below. According to certain embodiments, management database 146 comprises a relational database (e.g., an SQL database) for tracking metadata, such as metadata associated with secondary copy operations (e.g., what client computing devices 102 and corresponding subclient data were protected and where the secondary copies are stored and which media agent 144 performed the secondary storage). This and other metadata may additionally be stored in other locations, such as at secondary storage computing device 106 or on the secondary storage device 108, allowing data recovery without the use of storage manager 140 in some cases. Thus, management database 146 may comprise data needed to kick off secondary copy operations (e.g., storage policies), status and reporting information about completed jobs (e.g., status on yesterday's backup jobs), and additional information sufficient to enable restore and disaster recovery operations (e.g., media agent associations, location indexing, content indexing, etc.)

Storage manager 140 may include a jobs agent 156, a user interface 158, and a management agent 154, all of which may be implemented as interconnected software modules or application programs. These are described further below.

Jobs agent 156 in some embodiments initiates, controls, and/or monitors the status of some or all information management operations previously performed, currently being performed, or scheduled to be performed by system 100. A job may be a logical grouping of information management operations such as generating backup copies of a primary data 112 subclient at a certain time every day. Thus, jobs agent 156 may access information management policies 148 (e.g., in management database 146) to determine when and how to initiate/control jobs in system 100.

Storage Manager User Interfaces

User interface 158 may include information processing and display software, such as a graphical user interface (GUI), an application program interface (API), and/or other interactive interface(s) through which users and system processes can retrieve information about the status of information management operations or issue instructions to system 100 and/or its constituent components. Via user interface 158, users may issue instructions to the components in system 100 regarding performance of secondary copy and recovery operations. For example, a user may modify a schedule concerning the number of pending secondary copy operations. As another example, a user may employ the GUI to view the status of pending secondary copy jobs or to monitor the status of certain components in system 100 (e.g., the amount of capacity left in a storage device). Storage manager 140 may track information that permits it to select, designate, or otherwise identify content indices, deduplication databases, or similar databases or resources or data sets within its information management cell (or another cell) to be searched in response to certain queries. Such queries may be entered by the user by interacting with user interface 158.

Various embodiments of information management system 100 may be configured and/or designed to generate user interface data useable for rendering the various interactive user interfaces described. The user interface data may be used by system 100 and/or by another system, device, and/or software program (for example, a browser program), to render the interactive user interfaces. The interactive user interfaces may be displayed on, for example, electronic displays (including, for example, touch-enabled displays), consoles, etc., whether direct-connected to storage manager 140 or communicatively coupled remotely, e.g., via an internet connection. The present disclosure describes various embodiments of interactive and dynamic user interfaces, some of which may be generated by user interface agent 158, and which are the result of significant technological development. The user interfaces described herein may provide improved human-computer interactions, allowing for significant cognitive and ergonomic efficiencies and advantages over previous systems, including reduced mental workloads, improved decision-making, and the like. User interface 158 may operate in a single integrated view or console (not shown). The console may support a reporting capability for generating a variety of reports, which may be tailored to a particular aspect of information management.

User interfaces are not exclusive to storage manager 140 and in some embodiments a user may access information locally from a computing device component of system 100. For example, some information pertaining to installed data agents 142 and associated data streams may be available from client computing device 102. Likewise, some information pertaining to media agents 144 and associated data streams may be available from secondary storage computing device 106.

Storage Manager Management Agent

Management agent 154 can provide storage manager 140 with the ability to communicate with other components within information management system 100 and/or with other information management cells via network protocols and application programming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, REST, virtualization software APIs, cloud service provider APIs, and hosted service provider APIs.

Management agent 154 also allows multiple information management cells to communicate with one another. For example, system 100 in some cases may be one information management cell in a network of multiple cells adjacent to one another or otherwise logically related, e.g., in a WAN or LAN. With this arrangement, the cells may communicate with one another through respective management agents 154. Inter-cell communication and hierarchy is described in greater detail in e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

Information Management Cell

An “information management cell” (or “storage operation cell” or “cell”) may generally include a logical and/or physical grouping of a combination of hardware and software components associated with performing information management operations on electronic data, typically one storage manager 140 and at least one data agent 142 (executing on a client computing device 102) and at least one media agent 144 (executing on a secondary storage computing device 106). For instance, the components shown in FIG. 1C may together form an information management cell. Thus, in some configurations, a system 100 may be referred to as an information management cell. A given cell may be identified by the identity of its storage manager 140, which is generally responsible for managing the cell.

Multiple cells may be organized hierarchically, so that cells may inherit properties from hierarchically superior cells or be controlled by other cells in the hierarchy (automatically or otherwise). Alternatively, in some embodiments, cells may inherit or otherwise be associated with information management policies, preferences, information management operational parameters, or other properties or characteristics according to their relative position in a hierarchy of cells. Cells may also be organized hierarchically according to function, geography, architectural considerations, or other factors useful or desirable in performing information management operations. For example, a first cell may represent a geographic segment of an enterprise, such as a Chicago office, and a second cell may represent a different geographic segment, such as a New York City office. Other cells may represent departments within a particular office, e.g., human resources, finance, engineering, etc. Where delineated by function, a first cell may perform one or more first types of information management operations (e.g., one or more first types of secondary copies at a certain frequency), and a second cell may perform one or more second types of information management operations (e.g., one or more second types of secondary copies at a different frequency and under different retention rules). In general, the hierarchical information is maintained by one or more storage managers 140 that manage the respective cells (e.g., in corresponding management database(s) 146).

Data Agents

A variety of different applications 110 can operate on a given client computing device 102, including operating systems, file systems, database applications, e-mail applications, and virtual machines, just to name a few. And, as part of the process of creating and restoring secondary copies 116, the client computing device 102 may be tasked with processing and preparing the primary data 112 generated by these various applications 110. Moreover, the nature of the processing/preparation can differ across application types, e.g., due to inherent structural, state, and formatting differences among applications 110 and/or the operating system of client computing device 102. Each data agent 142 is therefore advantageously configured in some embodiments to assist in the performance of information management operations based on the type of data that is being protected at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.

Data agent 142 is a component of information system 100 and is generally directed by storage manager 140 in creating or restoring secondary copies 116. Data agent 142 may be a software program (e.g., a set of executable binary files) that executes on the same client computing device 102 as the associated application 110 that data agent 142 is configured to protect. Data agent 142 is generally responsible for managing, initiating, or otherwise assisting in the performance of information management operations in reference to its associated application(s) 110 and corresponding primary data 112 which is generated/accessed by the particular application(s). For instance, data agent 142 may take part in copying, archiving, migrating, and/or replicating of primary data 112 stored in the primary storage device(s) 104. Data agent 142 may receive control information from storage manager 140, such as commands to transfer copies of data objects and/or metadata to one or more media agents 144. Data agent 142 also may compress, deduplicate, and encrypt primary data 112 before transmitting it to media agent 144. Data agent 142 also may receive instructions from storage manager 140 to restore (or assist in restoring) a secondary copy 116 from secondary storage device 108 to primary storage 104, such that the restored data may be accessed by application 110.

Each data agent 142 may be specialized for a particular application 110. For instance, different individual data agents 142 may be designed to handle Microsoft Exchange data, Lotus Notes data, Microsoft Windows file system data, Microsoft Active Directory Objects data, SQL Server data, SharePoint data, Oracle database data, SAP database data, virtual machines and/or associated data, and other types of data. A file system data agent, for example, may handle data files and/or other file system information. If a client computing device 102 has two or more types of data 112, a specialized data agent 142 may be used for each data type. For example, to backup, migrate, and/or restore all of the data on a Microsoft Exchange server, the client computing device 102 may use: a Microsoft Exchange Mailbox data agent 142 to back up the Exchange mailboxes; a Microsoft Exchange Database data agent 142 to back up the Exchange databases; a Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data agent 142 to back up the Exchange Public Folders; and a Microsoft Windows File System data agent 142 to back up the file system of client computing device 102. In such embodiments, these specialized data agents 142 may be treated as four separate data agents 142 even though they operate on the same client computing device 102. Other examples may include archive management data agents such as a migration archiver or a compliance archiver, Quick Recovery® agents, and continuous data replication agents. Application-specific data agents 142 can provide improved performance as compared to generic agents. For instance, because application-specific data agents 142 may only handle data for a single software application, the design of the data agent 142 can be streamlined. The data agent 142 may therefore execute faster and consume less persistent storage and/or operating memory than data agents designed to generically accommodate multiple different software applications 110.

Each data agent 142 may be configured to access data and/or metadata stored in the primary storage device(s) 104 associated with data agent 142 and its host client computing device 102, and process the data appropriately. For example, during a secondary copy operation, data agent 142 may arrange or assemble the data and metadata into one or more files having a certain format (e.g., a particular backup or archive format) before transferring the file(s) to a media agent 144 or other component. The file(s) may include a list of files or other metadata.

In some embodiments, a data agent 142 may be distributed between client computing device 102 and storage manager 140 (and any other intermediate components) or may be deployed from a remote location or its functions approximated by a remote process that performs some or all of the functions of data agent 142. In addition, a data agent 142 may perform some functions provided by media agent 144. Other embodiments may employ one or more generic data agents 142 that can handle and process data from two or more different applications 110, or that can handle and process multiple data types, instead of or in addition to using specialized data agents 142. For example, one generic data agent 142 may be used to back up, migrate and restore Microsoft Exchange Mailbox data and Microsoft Exchange Database data, while another generic data agent may handle Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data and Microsoft Windows File System data.

Media Agents

As noted, off-loading certain responsibilities from client computing devices 102 to intermediate components such as secondary storage computing device(s) 106 and corresponding media agent(s) 144 can provide a number of benefits including improved performance of client computing device 102, faster information management operations, and enhanced scalability. In one example which will be discussed further below, media agent 144 can act as a local cache of recently-copied data and/or metadata that it stored to secondary storage device(s) 108, thus improving restore capabilities and performance.

Media agent 144 is a component of information system 100 and is generally directed by storage manager 140 in creating or restoring secondary copies 116. Whereas storage manager 140 generally manages information management system 100, media agent 144 provides a portal to secondary storage devices 108. Media agent 144 may be a software program (e.g., a set of executable binary files) that executes on a secondary storage computing device 106. Media agent 144 generally manages, coordinates, and facilitates the transmission of data between a client computing device 102 (executing a data agent 142) and secondary storage device(s) 108. For instance, other components in the system may interact with media agent 144 to gain access to data stored on secondary storage device(s) 108, (e.g., to browse, read, write, modify, delete, or restore data). Moreover, media agents 144 can generate and store information relating to characteristics of the stored data and/or metadata, or can generate and store other types of information that generally provides insight into the contents of the secondary storage devices 108—generally referred to as indexing of the stored secondary copies 116.

Media agents 144 can comprise separate nodes of system 100 (e.g., nodes that are separate from client computing devices 102, storage manager 140, and/or secondary storage devices 108). In general, a node can be a logically and/or physically separate component, and in some cases is a component that is individually addressable or otherwise identifiable. In addition, each media agent 144 may operate on a dedicated secondary storage computing device 106, while in other embodiments a plurality of media agents 144 may operate on the same secondary storage computing device 106.

A media agent 144 may be associated with a particular secondary storage device 108 if that media agent 144 is capable of one or more of: routing and/or storing data to the particular secondary storage device 108; coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particular secondary storage device 108; retrieving data from the particular secondary storage device 108; coordinating the retrieval of data from the particular secondary storage device 108; and modifying and/or deleting data retrieved from the particular secondary storage device 108. Media agent 144 in certain embodiments is physically separate from the associated secondary storage device 108. For instance, a media agent 144 may operate on a secondary storage computing device 106 in a distinct housing, package, and/or location from the associated secondary storage device 108. In one example, a media agent 144 operates on a first server computer and is in communication with a secondary storage device(s) 108 operating in a separate rack-mounted RAID-based system.

A media agent 144 associated with a particular secondary storage device 108 may instruct secondary storage device 108 to perform an information management task. For instance, a media agent 144 may instruct a tape library to use a robotic arm or other retrieval means to load or eject a certain storage media, and to subsequently archive, migrate, or retrieve data to or from that media, e.g., for the purpose of restoring data to a client computing device 102. As another example, a secondary storage device 108 may include an array of hard disk drives or solid state drives organized in a RAID configuration, and media agent 144 may forward a logical unit number (LUN) and other appropriate information to the array, which uses the received information to execute the desired secondary copy operation. Media agent 144 may communicate with a secondary storage device 108 via a suitable communications link, such as a SCSI or Fiber Channel link.

Each media agent 144 may maintain an associated media agent database 152. Media agent database 152 may be stored to a disk or other storage device (not shown) that is local to the secondary storage computing device 106 on which media agent 144 operates. In other cases, media agent database 152 is stored separately from the host secondary storage computing device 106. Media agent database 152 can include, among other things, a media agent index 153 (see, e.g., FIG. 1C). In some cases, media agent index 153 does not form a part of and is instead separate from media agent database 152.

Media agent index 153 (or “index 153”) may be a data structure associated with the particular media agent 144 that includes information about the stored data associated with the particular media agent and which may be generated in the course of performing a secondary copy operation or a restore. Index 153 provides a fast and efficient mechanism for locating/browsing secondary copies 116 or other data stored in secondary storage devices 108 without having to access secondary storage device 108 to retrieve the information from there. For instance, for each secondary copy 116, index 153 may include metadata such as a list of the data objects (e.g., files/subdirectories, database objects, mailbox objects, etc.), a logical path to the secondary copy 116 on the corresponding secondary storage device 108, location information (e.g., offsets) indicating where the data objects are stored in the secondary storage device 108, when the data objects were created or modified, etc. Thus, index 153 includes metadata associated with the secondary copies 116 that is readily available for use from media agent 144. In some embodiments, some or all of the information in index 153 may instead or additionally be stored along with secondary copies 116 in secondary storage device 108. In some embodiments, a secondary storage device 108 can include sufficient information to enable a “bare metal restore,” where the operating system and/or software applications of a failed client computing device 102 or another target may be automatically restored without manually reinstalling individual software packages (including operating systems).

Because index 153 may operate as a cache, it can also be referred to as an “index cache.” In such cases, information stored in index cache 153 typically comprises data that reflects certain particulars about relatively recent secondary copy operations. After some triggering event, such as after some time elapses or index cache 153 reaches a particular size, certain portions of index cache 153 may be copied or migrated to secondary storage device 108, e.g., on a least-recently-used basis. This information may be retrieved and uploaded back into index cache 153 or otherwise restored to media agent 144 to facilitate retrieval of data from the secondary storage device(s) 108. In some embodiments, the cached information may include format or containerization information related to archives or other files stored on storage device(s) 108.

In some alternative embodiments media agent 144 generally acts as a coordinator or facilitator of secondary copy operations between client computing devices 102 and secondary storage devices 108, but does not actually write the data to secondary storage device 108. For instance, storage manager 140 (or media agent 144) may instruct a client computing device 102 and secondary storage device 108 to communicate with one another directly. In such a case, client computing device 102 transmits data directly or via one or more intermediary components to secondary storage device 108 according to the received instructions, and vice versa. Media agent 144 may still receive, process, and/or maintain metadata related to the secondary copy operations, i.e., may continue to build and maintain index 153. In these embodiments, payload data can flow through media agent 144 for the purposes of populating index 153, but not for writing to secondary storage device 108.

Media agent 144 and/or other components such as storage manager 140 may in some cases incorporate additional functionality, such as data classification, content indexing, deduplication, encryption, compression, and the like. Further details regarding these and other functions are described below.

Distributed, Scalable Architecture

As described, certain functions of system 100 can be distributed amongst various physical and/or logical components. For instance, one or more of storage manager 140, data agents 142, and media agents 144 may operate on computing devices that are physically separate from one another. This architecture can provide a number of benefits. For instance, hardware and software design choices for each distributed component can be targeted to suit its particular function. The secondary computing devices 106 on which media agents 144 operate can be tailored for interaction with associated secondary storage devices 108 and provide fast index cache operation, among other specific tasks. Similarly, client computing device(s) 102 can be selected to effectively service applications 110 in order to efficiently produce and store primary data 112.

Moreover, in some cases, one or more of the individual components of information management system 100 can be distributed to multiple separate computing devices. As one example, for large file systems where the amount of data stored in management database 146 is relatively large, database 146 may be migrated to or may otherwise reside on a specialized database server (e.g., an SQL server) separate from a server that implements the other functions of storage manager 140. This distributed configuration can provide added protection because database 146 can be protected with standard database utilities (e.g., SQL log shipping or database replication) independent from other functions of storage manager 140. Database 146 can be efficiently replicated to a remote site for use in the event of a disaster or other data loss at the primary site. Or database 146 can be replicated to another computing device within the same site, such as to a higher performance machine in the event that a storage manager host computing device can no longer service the needs of a growing system 100.

The distributed architecture also provides scalability and efficient component utilization. FIG. 1D shows an embodiment of information management system 100 including a plurality of client computing devices 102 and associated data agents 142 as well as a plurality of secondary storage computing devices 106 and associated media agents 144. Additional components can be added or subtracted based on the evolving needs of system 100. For instance, depending on where bottlenecks are identified, administrators can add additional client computing devices 102, secondary storage computing devices 106, and/or secondary storage devices 108. Moreover, where multiple fungible components are available, load balancing can be implemented to dynamically address identified bottlenecks. As an example, storage manager 140 may dynamically select which media agents 144 and/or secondary storage devices 108 to use for storage operations based on a processing load analysis of media agents 144 and/or secondary storage devices 108, respectively.

Where system 100 includes multiple media agents 144 (see, e.g., FIG. 1D), a first media agent 144 may provide failover functionality for a second failed media agent 144. In addition, media agents 144 can be dynamically selected to provide load balancing. Each client computing device 102 can communicate with, among other components, any of the media agents 144, e.g., as directed by storage manager 140. And each media agent 144 may communicate with, among other components, any of secondary storage devices 108, e.g., as directed by storage manager 140. Thus, operations can be routed to secondary storage devices 108 in a dynamic and highly flexible manner, to provide load balancing, failover, etc. Further examples of scalable systems capable of dynamic storage operations, load balancing, and failover are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207.

While distributing functionality amongst multiple computing devices can have certain advantages, in other contexts it can be beneficial to consolidate functionality on the same computing device. In alternative configurations, certain components may reside and execute on the same computing device. As such, in other embodiments, one or more of the components shown in FIG. 1C may be implemented on the same computing device. In one configuration, a storage manager 140, one or more data agents 142, and/or one or more media agents 144 are all implemented on the same computing device. In other embodiments, one or more data agents 142 and one or more media agents 144 are implemented on the same computing device, while storage manager 140 is implemented on a separate computing device, etc. without limitation.

Exemplary Types of Information Management Operations

In order to protect and leverage stored data, system 100 can be configured to perform a variety of information management operations, which may also be referred to in some cases as storage management operations or storage operations. These operations can generally include (i) data movement operations, (ii) processing and data manipulation operations, and (iii) analysis, reporting, and management operations.

Data Movement Operations, Including Secondary Copy Operations

Data movement operations are generally operations that involve the copying or migration of data between different locations in system 100. For example, data movement operations can include operations in which stored data is copied, migrated, or otherwise transferred from one or more first storage devices to one or more second storage devices, such as from primary storage device(s) 104 to secondary storage device(s) 108, from secondary storage device(s) 108 to different secondary storage device(s) 108, from secondary storage devices 108 to primary storage devices 104, or from primary storage device(s) 104 to different primary storage device(s) 104, or in some cases within the same primary storage device 104 such as within a storage array.

Data movement operations can include by way of example, backup operations, archive operations, information lifecycle management operations such as hierarchical storage management operations, replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication), snapshot operations, deduplication or single-instancing operations, auxiliary copy operations, disaster-recovery copy operations, and the like. As will be discussed, some of these operations do not necessarily create distinct copies. Nonetheless, some or all of these operations are generally referred to as “secondary copy operations” for simplicity. Data movement also comprises restoring secondary copies.

Backup Operations

A backup operation creates a copy of a version of primary data 112 at a particular point in time (e.g., one or more files or other data units). Each subsequent backup copy 116 (which is a form of secondary copy 116) may be maintained independently of the first. A backup generally involves maintaining a version of the copied primary data 112 as well as backup copies 116. Further, a backup copy in some embodiments is generally stored in a form that is different from the native format, e.g., a backup format. This contrasts to the version in primary data 112 which may instead be stored in a native format of the source application(s) 110. In various cases, backup copies can be stored in a format in which the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modified from the original native application format. For example, a backup copy may be stored in a compressed backup format that facilitates efficient long-term storage.

Backup copies 116 can have relatively long retention periods as compared to primary data 112, which is generally highly changeable. Backup copies 116 may be stored on media with slower retrieval times than primary storage device 104. Some backup copies may have shorter retention periods than some other types of secondary copies 116, such as archive copies (described below). Backups may be stored at an offsite location.

Backup operations can include full backups, differential backups, incremental backups, “synthetic full” backups, and/or creating a “reference copy.” A full backup (or “standard full backup”) in some embodiments is generally a complete image of the data to be protected. However, because full backup copies can consume a relatively large amount of storage, it can be useful to use a full backup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the full backup copy for subsequent backup copies.

A differential backup operation (or cumulative incremental backup operation) tracks and stores changes that occurred since the last full backup. Differential backups can grow quickly in size, but can restore relatively efficiently because a restore can be completed in some cases using only the full backup copy and the latest differential copy.

An incremental backup operation generally tracks and stores changes since the most recent backup copy of any type, which can greatly reduce storage utilization. In some cases, however, restoring can be lengthy compared to full or differential backups because completing a restore operation may involve accessing a full backup in addition to multiple incremental backups.

Synthetic full backups generally consolidate data without directly backing up data from the client computing device. A synthetic full backup is created from the most recent full backup (i.e., standard or synthetic) and subsequent incremental and/or differential backups. The resulting synthetic full backup is identical to what would have been created had the last backup for the subclient been a standard full backup. Unlike standard full, incremental, and differential backups, however, a synthetic full backup does not actually transfer data from primary storage to the backup media, because it operates as a backup consolidator. A synthetic full backup extracts the index data of each participating subclient. Using this index data and the previously backed up user data images, it builds new full backup images (e.g., bitmaps), one for each subclient. The new backup images consolidate the index and user data stored in the related incremental, differential, and previous full backups into a synthetic backup file that fully represents the subclient (e.g., via pointers) but does not comprise all its constituent data.

Any of the above types of backup operations can be at the volume level, file level, or block level. Volume level backup operations generally involve copying of a data volume (e.g., a logical disk or partition) as a whole. In a file-level backup, information management system 100 generally tracks changes to individual files and includes copies of files in the backup copy. For block-level backups, files are broken into constituent blocks, and changes are tracked at the block level. Upon restore, system 100 reassembles the blocks into files in a transparent fashion. Far less data may actually be transferred and copied to secondary storage devices 108 during a file-level copy than a volume-level copy. Likewise, a block-level copy may transfer less data than a file-level copy, resulting in faster execution. However, restoring a relatively higher-granularity copy can result in longer restore times. For instance, when restoring a block-level copy, the process of locating constituent blocks can sometimes take longer than restoring file-level backups.

A reference copy may comprise copy(ies) of selected objects from backed up data, typically to help organize data by keeping contextual information from multiple sources together, and/or help retain specific data for a longer period of time, such as for legal hold needs. A reference copy generally maintains data integrity, and when the data is restored, it may be viewed in the same format as the source data. In some embodiments, a reference copy is based on a specialized client, individual subclient and associated information management policies (e.g., storage policy, retention policy, etc.) that are administered within system 100.

Archive Operations

Because backup operations generally involve maintaining a version of the copied primary data 112 and also maintaining backup copies in secondary storage device(s) 108, they can consume significant storage capacity. To reduce storage consumption, an archive operation according to certain embodiments creates an archive copy 116 by both copying and removing source data. Or, seen another way, archive operations can involve moving some or all of the source data to the archive destination. Thus, data satisfying criteria for removal (e.g., data of a threshold age or size) may be removed from source storage. The source data may be primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116, depending on the situation. As with backup copies, archive copies can be stored in a format in which the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modified from the format of the original application or source copy. In addition, archive copies may be retained for relatively long periods of time (e.g., years) and, in some cases are never deleted. Archive copies are generally retained for longer periods of time than backup copies. In certain embodiments, archive copies may be made and kept for extended periods in order to meet compliance regulations.

Archiving can also serve the purpose of freeing up space in primary storage device(s) 104 and easing the demand on computational resources on client computing device 102. Similarly, when a secondary copy 116 is archived, the archive copy can therefore serve the purpose of freeing up space in the source secondary storage device(s) 108. Examples of data archiving operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,298.

Snapshot Operations

Snapshot operations can provide a relatively lightweight, efficient mechanism for protecting data. From an end-user viewpoint, a snapshot may be thought of as an “instant” image of primary data 112 at a given point in time, and may include state and/or status information relative to an application 110 that creates/manages primary data 112. In one embodiment, a snapshot may generally capture the directory structure of an object in primary data 112 such as a file or volume or other data set at a particular moment in time and may also preserve file attributes and contents. A snapshot in some cases is created relatively quickly, e.g., substantially instantly, using a minimum amount of file space, but may still function as a conventional file system backup.

A “hardware snapshot” (or “hardware-based snapshot”) operation can be a snapshot operation where a target storage device (e.g., a primary storage device 104 or a secondary storage device 108) performs the snapshot operation in a self-contained fashion, substantially independently, using hardware, firmware and/or software operating on the storage device itself. For instance, the storage device may perform snapshot operations generally without intervention or oversight from any of the other components of the system 100, e.g., a storage array may generate an “array-created” hardware snapshot and may also manage its storage, integrity, versioning, etc. In this manner, hardware snapshots can off-load other components of system 100 from processing involved in creating and managing snapshots.

A “software snapshot” (or “software-based snapshot”) operation, on the other hand, can be a snapshot operation in which one or more other components in information management system 100 (e.g., client computing devices 102, data agents 142, etc.) implement a software layer that manages the snapshot operation via interaction with the target storage device. For instance, the component executing the snapshot management software layer may derive a set of pointers and/or data that represents the snapshot. The snapshot management software layer may then transmit the same to the target storage device, along with appropriate instructions for writing the snapshot. One example of a software snapshot product may be Microsoft Volume Snapshot Service (VSS), which is part of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Some types of snapshots do not actually create another physical copy of all the data as it existed at the particular point in time, but may simply create pointers that are able to map files and directories to specific memory locations (e.g., to specific disk blocks) where the data resides, as it existed at the particular point in time. For example, a snapshot copy may include a set of pointers derived from the file system or from an application. In some other cases, the snapshot may be created at the block-level, such that creation of the snapshot occurs without awareness of the file system. Each pointer points to a respective stored data block, so that collectively, the set of pointers reflect the storage location and state of the data object (e.g., file(s) or volume(s) or data set(s)) at the particular point in time when the snapshot copy was created.

An initial snapshot may use only a small amount of disk space needed to record a mapping or other data structure representing or otherwise tracking the blocks that correspond to the current state of the file system. Additional disk space is usually required only when files and directories change later on. Furthermore, when files change, typically only the pointers which map to blocks are copied, not the blocks themselves. For example for “copy-on-write” snapshots, when a block changes in primary storage, the block is copied to secondary storage or cached in primary storage before the block is overwritten in primary storage, and the pointer to that block is changed to reflect the new location of that block. The snapshot mapping of file system data may also be updated to reflect the changed block(s) at that particular point in time. In some other cases, a snapshot includes a full physical copy of all or substantially all of the data represented by the snapshot. Further examples of snapshot operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782.

A snapshot copy in many cases can be made quickly and without significantly impacting primary computing resources because large amounts of data need not be copied or moved. In some embodiments, a snapshot may exist as a virtual file system, parallel to the actual file system. Users in some cases gain read-only access to the record of files and directories of the snapshot. By electing to restore primary data 112 from a snapshot taken at a given point in time, users may also return the current file system to the state of the file system that existed when the snapshot was taken.

Replication Operations

Another type of secondary copy operation is a replication operation. Some types of secondary copies 116 are used to periodically capture images of primary data 112 at particular points in time (e.g., backups, archives, and snapshots). However, it can also be useful for recovery purposes to protect primary data 112 in a more continuous fashion, by replicating primary data 112 substantially as changes occur. In some cases a replication copy can be a mirror copy, for instance, where changes made to primary data 112 are mirrored or substantially immediately copied to another location (e.g., to secondary storage device(s) 108). By copying each write operation to the replication copy, two storage systems are kept synchronized or substantially synchronized so that they are virtually identical at approximately the same time. Where entire disk volumes are mirrored, however, mirroring can require significant amount of storage space and utilizes a large amount of processing resources.

According to some embodiments secondary copy operations are performed on replicated data that represents a recoverable state, or “known good state” of a particular application running on the source system. For instance, in certain embodiments, known good replication copies may be viewed as copies of primary data 112. This feature allows the system to directly access, copy, restore, backup or otherwise manipulate the replication copies as if the data were the “live” primary data 112. This can reduce access time, storage utilization, and impact on source applications 110, among other benefits. Based on known good state information, system 100 can replicate sections of application data that represent a recoverable state rather than rote copying of blocks of data. Examples of replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication) are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262.

Deduplication/Single-Instancing Operations

Deduplication or single-instance storage is useful to reduce the amount of non-primary data. For instance, some or all of the above-described secondary copy operations can involve deduplication in some fashion. New data is read, broken down into data portions of a selected granularity (e.g., sub-file level blocks, files, etc.), compared with corresponding portions that are already in secondary storage, and only new portions are stored. Portions that already exist are represented as pointers to the already-stored data. Thus, a deduplicated secondary copy 116 may comprise actual data portions copied from primary data 112 and may further comprise pointers to already-stored data, which is generally more storage-efficient than a full copy.

In order to streamline the comparison process, information management system 100 may calculate and/or store signatures (e.g., hashes or cryptographically unique IDs) corresponding to the individual data portions in the source data and compare the signatures instead of comparing entire data portions. In some cases, only a single instance of each data portion is stored, and deduplication operations may therefore be referred to interchangeably as “single-instancing” operations. Depending on the implementation, however, deduplication operations can store more than one instance of certain data portions, but nonetheless significantly reduce stored-data redundancy. Depending on the embodiment, deduplication portions such as data blocks can be of fixed or variable length. Using variable length blocks can enhance deduplication by responding to changes in the data stream, but can involve complex processing. In some cases, system 100 utilizes a technique for dynamically aligning deduplication blocks based on changing content in the data stream, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652.

Information management system 100 can perform deduplication in a variety of manners at a variety of locations. For instance, in some embodiments, system 100 implements “target-side” deduplication by deduplicating data at the media agent 144 after being received from data agent 142. In some such cases, the media agents 144 are generally configured to manage the deduplication process. For instance, one or more of the media agents 144 maintain a corresponding deduplication database that stores deduplication information (e.g., datablock signatures). Examples of such a configuration are provided in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826. Instead of or in combination with “target-side” deduplication, deduplication can also be performed on the “source-side” (or “client-side”), e.g., to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted by data agent 142 to media agent 144. Storage manager 140 may communicate with other components within system 100 via network protocols and cloud service provider APIs to facilitate cloud-based deduplication/single instancing, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150818. Some other deduplication/single instancing techniques are described in U.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2006/0224846 and 2009/0319534.

Information Lifecycle Management and Hierarchical Storage Management

In some embodiments, files and other data over their lifetime move from more expensive quick-access storage to less expensive slower-access storage. Operations associated with moving data through various tiers of storage are sometimes referred to as information lifecycle management (ILM) operations.

One type of ILM operation is a hierarchical storage management (HSM) operation, which generally automatically moves data between classes of storage devices, such as from high-cost to low-cost storage devices. For instance, an HSM operation may involve movement of data from primary storage devices 104 to secondary storage devices 108, or between tiers of secondary storage devices 108. With each tier, the storage devices may be progressively cheaper, have relatively slower access/restore times, etc. For example, movement of data between tiers may occur as data becomes less important over time. In some embodiments, an HSM operation is similar to archiving in that creating an HSM copy may (though not always) involve deleting some of the source data, e.g., according to one or more criteria related to the source data. For example, an HSM copy may include primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 that is larger than a given size threshold or older than a given age threshold. Often, and unlike some types of archive copies, HSM data that is removed or aged from the source is replaced by a logical reference pointer or stub. The reference pointer or stub can be stored in the primary storage device 104 or other source storage device, such as a secondary storage device 108 to replace the deleted source data and to point to or otherwise indicate the new location in (another) secondary storage device 108.

According to one example, files are generally moved between higher and lower cost storage depending on how often the files are accessed. When a user requests access to HSM data that has been removed or migrated, system 100 uses the stub to locate the data and may make recovery of the data appear transparent, even though the HSM data may be stored at a location different from other source data. In this manner, the data appears to the user (e.g., in file system browsing windows and the like) as if it still resides in the source location (e.g., in a primary storage device 104). The stub may also include some metadata associated with the corresponding data, so that a file system and/or application can provide some information about the data object and/or a limited-functionality version (e.g., a preview) of the data object.

An HSM copy may be stored in a format other than the native application format (e.g., compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modified). In some cases, copies which involve the removal of data from source storage and the maintenance of stub or other logical reference information on source storage may be referred to generally as “online archive copies”. On the other hand, copies which involve the removal of data from source storage without the maintenance of stub or other logical reference information on source storage may be referred to as “off-line archive copies”. Examples of HSM and ILM techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

Auxiliary Copy Operations

An auxiliary copy is generally a copy of an existing secondary copy 116. For instance, an initial secondary copy 116 may be derived from primary data 112 or from data residing in secondary storage subsystem 118, whereas an auxiliary copy is generated from the initial secondary copy 116. Auxiliary copies provide additional standby copies of data and may reside on different secondary storage devices 108 than the initial secondary copies 116. Thus, auxiliary copies can be used for recovery purposes if initial secondary copies 116 become unavailable. Exemplary auxiliary copy techniques are described in further detail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195.

Disaster-Recovery Copy Operations

Information management system 100 may also make and retain disaster recovery copies, often as secondary, high-availability disk copies. System 100 may create secondary disk copies and store the copies at disaster recovery locations using auxiliary copy or replication operations, such as continuous data replication technologies. Depending on the particular data protection goals, disaster recovery locations can be remote from the client computing devices 102 and primary storage devices 104, remote from some or all of the secondary storage devices 108, or both.

Data Manipulation, Including Encryption and Compression

Data manipulation and processing may include encryption and compression as well as integrity marking and checking, formatting for transmission, formatting for storage, etc. Data may be manipulated “client-side” by data agent 142 as well as “target-side” by media agent 144 in the course of creating secondary copy 116.

Encryption Operations

Information management system 100 in some cases is configured to process data (e.g., files or other data objects, primary data 112, secondary copies 116, etc.), according to an appropriate encryption algorithm (e.g., Blowfish, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Triple Data Encryption Standard (3-DES), etc.) to limit access and provide data security. System 100 in some cases encrypts the data at the client level, such that client computing devices 102 (e.g., data agents 142) encrypt the data prior to transferring it to other components, e.g., before sending the data to media agents 144 during a secondary copy operation. In such cases, client computing device 102 may maintain or have access to an encryption key or passphrase for decrypting the data upon restore. Encryption can also occur when media agent 144 creates auxiliary copies or archive copies. Encryption may be applied in creating a secondary copy 116 of a previously unencrypted secondary copy 116, without limitation. In further embodiments, secondary storage devices 108 can implement built-in, high performance hardware-based encryption.

Compression Operations

Similar to encryption, system 100 may also or alternatively compress data in the course of generating a secondary copy 116. Compression encodes information such that fewer bits are needed to represent the information as compared to the original representation. Compression techniques are well known in the art. Compression operations may apply one or more data compression algorithms. Compression may be applied in creating a secondary copy 116 of a previously uncompressed secondary copy, e.g., when making archive copies or disaster recovery copies. The use of compression may result in metadata that specifies the nature of the compression, so that data may be uncompressed on restore if appropriate.

Data Analysis, Reporting, and Management Operations

Data analysis, reporting, and management operations can differ from data movement operations in that they do not necessarily involve copying, migration or other transfer of data between different locations in the system. For instance, data analysis operations may involve processing (e.g., offline processing) or modification of already stored primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116. However, in some embodiments data analysis operations are performed in conjunction with data movement operations. Some data analysis operations include content indexing operations and classification operations which can be useful in leveraging the data under management to provide enhanced search and other features. Other data analysis operations such as compression and encryption can provide data reduction and security benefits, respectively.

Classification Operations/Content Indexing

In some embodiments, information management system 100 analyzes and indexes characteristics, content, and metadata associated with primary data 112 (“online content indexing”) and/or secondary copies 116 (“off-line content indexing”). Content indexing can identify files or other data objects based on content (e.g., user-defined keywords or phrases, other keywords/phrases that are not defined by a user, etc.), and/or metadata (e.g., email metadata such as “to”, “from,” “cc,” “bcc,” attachment name, received time, etc.). Content indexes may be searched and search results may be restored.

Information management system 100 generally organizes and catalogues the results into a content index, which may be stored within media agent database 152, for example. The content index can also include the storage locations of or pointer references to indexed data in primary data 112 or secondary copies 116, as appropriate. The results may also be stored elsewhere in system 100 (e.g., in primary storage device 104 or in secondary storage device 108). Such content index data provides storage manager 140 or other components with an efficient mechanism for locating primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116 of data objects that match particular criteria, thus greatly increasing the search speed capability of system 100. For instance, search criteria can be specified by a user through user interface 158 of storage manager 140. Moreover, when system 100 analyzes data and/or metadata in secondary copies 116 to create an “off-line content index,” this operation has no significant impact on the performance of client computing devices 102 and thus does not take a toll on the production environment. Examples of content indexing techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995.

One or more components, such as a content index engine, can be configured to scan data and/or associated metadata for classification purposes to populate a database (or other data structure) of information, which can be referred to as a “data classification database” or a “metabase.” Depending on the embodiment, the data classification database(s) can be organized in a variety of different ways, including centralization, logical sub-divisions, and/or physical sub-divisions. For instance, one or more data classification databases may be associated with different subsystems or tiers within system 100. As an example, there may be a first metabase associated with primary storage subsystem 117 and a second metabase associated with secondary storage subsystem 118. In other cases, there may be one or more metabases associated with individual components, e.g., client computing devices 102 and/or media agents 144. In some embodiments, a data classification database may reside as one or more data structures within management database 146, or may be otherwise associated with storage manager 140 or may reside as a separate component.

In some cases, metabase(s) may be included in separate database(s) and/or on separate storage device(s) from primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116, such that operations related to the metabase(s) do not significantly impact performance on other components of information management system 100. In other cases, metabase(s) may be stored along with primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116. Files or other data objects can be associated with identifiers (e.g., tag entries, etc.) to facilitate searches of stored data objects. Among a number of other benefits, the metabase can also allow efficient, automatic identification of files or other data objects to associate with secondary copy or other information management operations. For instance, a metabase can dramatically improve the speed with which the information management system can search through and identify data as compared to other approaches which can involve scanning an entire file system. Examples of metabases and data classification operations are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,734,669 and 7,747,579.

Management and Reporting Operations

Certain embodiments leverage the integrated ubiquitous nature of information management system 100 to provide useful system-wide management and reporting functions. Operations management can generally include monitoring and managing the health and performance of system 100 by, without limitation, performing error tracking, generating granular storage/performance metrics (e.g., job success/failure information, deduplication efficiency, etc.), generating storage modeling and costing information, and the like. As an example, storage manager 140 or other component in system 100 may analyze traffic patterns and suggest and/or automatically route data to minimize congestion. In some embodiments, the system can generate predictions relating to storage operations or storage operation information. Such predictions, which may be based on a trending analysis, may predict various network operations or resource usage, such as network traffic levels, storage media use, use of bandwidth of communication links, use of media agent components, etc. Further examples of traffic analysis, trend analysis, prediction generation, and the like are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

In some configurations having a hierarchy of storage operation cells, a master storage manager 140 may track the status of subordinate cells, such as the status of jobs, system components, system resources, and other items, by communicating with storage managers 140 (or other components) in the respective storage operation cells. Moreover, the master storage manager 140 may also track status by receiving periodic status updates from the storage managers 140 (or other components) in the respective cells regarding jobs, system components, system resources, and other items. In some embodiments, a master storage manager 140 may store status information and other information regarding its associated storage operation cells and other system information in its management database 146 and/or index 150 (or in another location). The master storage manager 140 or other component may also determine whether certain storage-related or other criteria are satisfied, and may perform an action or trigger event (e.g., data migration) in response to the criteria being satisfied, such as where a storage threshold is met for a particular volume, or where inadequate protection exists for certain data. For instance, data from one or more storage operation cells is used to dynamically and automatically mitigate recognized risks, and/or to advise users of risks or suggest actions to mitigate these risks. For example, an information management policy may specify certain requirements (e.g., that a storage device should maintain a certain amount of free space, that secondary copies should occur at a particular interval, that data should be aged and migrated to other storage after a particular period, that data on a secondary volume should always have a certain level of availability and be restorable within a given time period, that data on a secondary volume may be mirrored or otherwise migrated to a specified number of other volumes, etc.). If a risk condition or other criterion is triggered, the system may notify the user of these conditions and may suggest (or automatically implement) a mitigation action to address the risk. For example, the system may indicate that data from a primary copy 112 should be migrated to a secondary storage device 108 to free space on primary storage device 104. Examples of the use of risk factors and other triggering criteria are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

In some embodiments, system 100 may also determine whether a metric or other indication satisfies particular storage criteria sufficient to perform an action. For example, a storage policy or other definition might indicate that a storage manager 140 should initiate a particular action if a storage metric or other indication drops below or otherwise fails to satisfy specified criteria such as a threshold of data protection. In some embodiments, risk factors may be quantified into certain measurable service or risk levels. For example, certain applications and associated data may be considered to be more important relative to other data and services. Financial compliance data, for example, may be of greater importance than marketing materials, etc. Network administrators may assign priority values or “weights” to certain data and/or applications corresponding to the relative importance. The level of compliance of secondary copy operations specified for these applications may also be assigned a certain value. Thus, the health, impact, and overall importance of a service may be determined, such as by measuring the compliance value and calculating the product of the priority value and the compliance value to determine the “service level” and comparing it to certain operational thresholds to determine whether it is acceptable. Further examples of the service level determination are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated by reference herein.

System 100 may additionally calculate data costing and data availability associated with information management operation cells. For instance, data received from a cell may be used in conjunction with hardware-related information and other information about system elements to determine the cost of storage and/or the availability of particular data. Exemplary information generated could include how fast a particular department is using up available storage space, how long data would take to recover over a particular pathway from a particular secondary storage device, costs over time, etc. Moreover, in some embodiments, such information may be used to determine or predict the overall cost associated with the storage of certain information. The cost associated with hosting a certain application may be based, at least in part, on the type of media on which the data resides, for example. Storage devices may be assigned to a particular cost categories, for example. Further examples of costing techniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

Any of the above types of information (e.g., information related to trending, predictions, job, cell or component status, risk, service level, costing, etc.) can generally be provided to users via user interface 158 in a single integrated view or console (not shown). Report types may include: scheduling, event management, media management and data aging. Available reports may also include backup history, data aging history, auxiliary copy history, job history, library and drive, media in library, restore history, and storage policy, etc., without limitation. Such reports may be specified and created at a certain point in time as a system analysis, forecasting, or provisioning tool. Integrated reports may also be generated that illustrate storage and performance metrics, risks and storage costing information. Moreover, users may create their own reports based on specific needs. User interface 158 can include an option to show a “virtual view” of the system that graphically depicts the various components in the system using appropriate icons. As one example, user interface 158 may provide a graphical depiction of primary storage devices 104, secondary storage devices 108, data agents 142 and/or media agents 144, and their relationship to one another in system 100.

In general, the operations management functionality of system 100 can facilitate planning and decision-making. For example, in some embodiments, a user may view the status of some or all jobs as well as the status of each component of information management system 100. Users may then plan and make decisions based on this data. For instance, a user may view high-level information regarding secondary copy operations for system 100, such as job status, component status, resource status (e.g., communication pathways, etc.), and other information. The user may also drill down or use other means to obtain more detailed information regarding a particular component, job, or the like. Further examples are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

Information management system 100 can also be configured to perform system-wide e-discovery operations in some embodiments. In general, e-discovery operations provide a unified collection and search capability for data in the system, such as data stored in secondary storage devices 108 (e.g., backups, archives, or other secondary copies 116). For example, system 100 may construct and maintain a virtual repository for data stored in system 100 that is integrated across source applications 110, different storage device types, etc. According to some embodiments, e-discovery utilizes other techniques described herein, such as data classification and/or content indexing.

Information Management Policies

An information management policy 148 can include a data structure or other information source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with secondary copy and/or other information management operations.

One type of information management policy 148 is a “storage policy.” According to certain embodiments, a storage policy generally comprises a data structure or other information source that defines (or includes information sufficient to determine) a set of preferences or other criteria for performing information management operations. Storage policies can include one or more of the following: (1) what data will be associated with the storage policy, e.g., subclient; (2) a destination to which the data will be stored; (3) datapath information specifying how the data will be communicated to the destination; (4) the type of secondary copy operation to be performed; and (5) retention information specifying how long the data will be retained at the destination (see, e.g., FIG. 1E). Data associated with a storage policy can be logically organized into subclients, which may represent primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116. A subclient may represent static or dynamic associations of portions of a data volume. Subclients may represent mutually exclusive portions. Thus, in certain embodiments, a portion of data may be given a label and the association is stored as a static entity in an index, database or other storage location. Subclients may also be used as an effective administrative scheme of organizing data according to data type, department within the enterprise, storage preferences, or the like. Depending on the configuration, subclients can correspond to files, folders, virtual machines, databases, etc. In one exemplary scenario, an administrator may find it preferable to separate e-mail data from financial data using two different subclients.

A storage policy can define where data is stored by specifying a target or destination storage device (or group of storage devices). For instance, where the secondary storage device 108 includes a group of disk libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular disk library for storing the subclients associated with the policy. As another example, where the secondary storage devices 108 include one or more tape libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular tape library for storing the subclients associated with the storage policy, and may also specify a drive pool and a tape pool defining a group of tape drives and a group of tapes, respectively, for use in storing the subclient data. While information in the storage policy can be statically assigned in some cases, some or all of the information in the storage policy can also be dynamically determined based on criteria, which can be set forth in the storage policy. For instance, based on such criteria, a particular destination storage device(s) or other parameter of the storage policy may be determined based on characteristics associated with the data involved in a particular secondary copy operation, device availability (e.g., availability of a secondary storage device 108 or a media agent 144), network status and conditions (e.g., identified bottlenecks), user credentials, and the like.

Datapath information can also be included in the storage policy. For instance, the storage policy may specify network pathways and components to utilize when moving the data to the destination storage device(s). In some embodiments, the storage policy specifies one or more media agents 144 for conveying data associated with the storage policy between the source and destination. A storage policy can also specify the type(s) of operations associated with the storage policy, such as a backup, archive, snapshot, auxiliary copy, or the like. Furthermore, retention parameters can specify how long the resulting secondary copies 116 will be kept (e.g., a number of days, months, years, etc.), perhaps depending on organizational needs and/or compliance criteria.

Another type of information management policy 148 is a “scheduling policy,” which specifies when and how often to perform operations. Scheduling parameters may specify with what frequency (e.g., hourly, weekly, daily, event-based, etc.) or under what triggering conditions secondary copy or other information management operations are to take place. Scheduling policies in some cases are associated with particular components, such as a subclient, client computing device 102, and the like.

When adding a new client computing device 102, administrators can manually configure information management policies 148 and/or other settings, e.g., via user interface 158. However, this can be an involved process resulting in delays, and it may be desirable to begin data protection operations quickly, without awaiting human intervention. Thus, in some embodiments, system 100 automatically applies a default configuration to client computing device 102. As one example, when one or more data agent(s) 142 are installed on a client computing device 102, the installation script may register the client computing device 102 with storage manager 140, which in turn applies the default configuration to the new client computing device 102. In this manner, data protection operations can begin substantially immediately. The default configuration can include a default storage policy, for example, and can specify any appropriate information sufficient to begin data protection operations. This can include a type of data protection operation, scheduling information, a target secondary storage device 108, data path information (e.g., a particular media agent 144), and the like.

Another type of information management policy 148 is an “audit policy” (or security policy), which comprises preferences, rules and/or criteria that protect sensitive data in information management system 100. For example, an audit policy may define “sensitive objects” which are files or data objects that contain particular keywords (e.g., “confidential,” or “privileged”) and/or are associated with particular keywords (e.g., in metadata) or particular flags (e.g., in metadata identifying a document or email as personal, confidential, etc.). An audit policy may further specify rules for handling sensitive objects. As an example, an audit policy may require that a reviewer approve the transfer of any sensitive objects to a cloud storage site, and that if approval is denied for a particular sensitive object, the sensitive object should be transferred to a local primary storage device 104 instead. To facilitate this approval, the audit policy may further specify how a secondary storage computing device 106 or other system component should notify a reviewer that a sensitive object is slated for transfer.

Another type of information management policy 148 is a “provisioning policy,” which can include preferences, priorities, rules, and/or criteria that specify how client computing devices 102 (or groups thereof) may utilize system resources, such as available storage on cloud storage and/or network bandwidth. A provisioning policy specifies, for example, data quotas for particular client computing devices 102 (e.g., a number of gigabytes that can be stored monthly, quarterly or annually). Storage manager 140 or other components may enforce the provisioning policy. For instance, media agents 144 may enforce the policy when transferring data to secondary storage devices 108. If a client computing device 102 exceeds a quota, a budget for the client computing device 102 (or associated department) may be adjusted accordingly or an alert may trigger.

While the above types of information management policies 148 have been described as separate policies, one or more of these can be generally combined into a single information management policy 148. For instance, a storage policy may also include or otherwise be associated with one or more scheduling, audit, or provisioning policies or operational parameters thereof. Moreover, while storage policies are typically associated with moving and storing data, other policies may be associated with other types of information management operations. The following is a non-exhaustive list of items that information management policies 148 may specify:

-   -   schedules or other timing information, e.g., specifying when         and/or how often to perform information management operations;     -   the type of secondary copy 116 and/or copy format (e.g.,         snapshot, backup, archive, HSM, etc.);     -   a location or a class or quality of storage for storing         secondary copies 116 (e.g., one or more particular secondary         storage devices 108);     -   preferences regarding whether and how to encrypt, compress,         deduplicate, or otherwise modify or transform secondary copies         116;     -   which system components and/or network pathways (e.g., preferred         media agents 144) should be used to perform secondary storage         operations;     -   resource allocation among different computing devices or other         system components used in performing information management         operations (e.g., bandwidth allocation, available storage         capacity, etc.);     -   whether and how to synchronize or otherwise distribute files or         other data objects across multiple computing devices or hosted         services; and     -   retention information specifying the length of time primary data         112 and/or secondary copies 116 should be retained, e.g., in a         particular class or tier of storage devices, or within the         system 100.

Information management policies 148 can additionally specify or depend on historical or current criteria that may be used to determine which rules to apply to a particular data object, system component, or information management operation, such as:

-   -   frequency with which primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 of         a data object or metadata has been or is predicted to be used,         accessed, or modified;     -   time-related factors (e.g., aging information such as time since         the creation or modification of a data object);     -   deduplication information (e.g., hashes, data blocks,         deduplication block size, deduplication efficiency or other         metrics);     -   an estimated or historic usage or cost associated with different         components (e.g., with secondary storage devices 108);     -   the identity of users, applications 110, client computing         devices 102 and/or other computing devices that created,         accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or         secondary copies 116;     -   a relative sensitivity (e.g., confidentiality, importance) of a         data object, e.g., as determined by its content and/or metadata;     -   the current or historical storage capacity of various storage         devices;     -   the current or historical network capacity of network pathways         connecting various components within the storage operation cell;     -   access control lists or other security information; and     -   the content of a particular data object (e.g., its textual         content) or of metadata associated with the data object.

Exemplary Storage Policy and Secondary Copy Operations

FIG. 1E includes a data flow diagram depicting performance of secondary copy operations by an embodiment of information management system 100, according to an exemplary storage policy 148A. System 100 includes a storage manager 140, a client computing device 102 having a file system data agent 142A and an email data agent 142B operating thereon, a primary storage device 104, two media agents 144A, 144B, and two secondary storage devices 108: a disk library 108A and a tape library 108B. As shown, primary storage device 104 includes primary data 112A, which is associated with a logical grouping of data associated with a file system (“file system subclient”), and primary data 112B, which is a logical grouping of data associated with email (“email subclient”). The techniques described with respect to FIG. 1E can be utilized in conjunction with data that is otherwise organized as well.

As indicated by the dashed box, the second media agent 144B and tape library 108B are “off-site,” and may be remotely located from the other components in system 100 (e.g., in a different city, office building, etc.). Indeed, “off-site” may refer to a magnetic tape located in remote storage, which must be manually retrieved and loaded into a tape drive to be read. In this manner, information stored on the tape library 108B may provide protection in the event of a disaster or other failure at the main site(s) where data is stored.

The file system subclient 112A in certain embodiments generally comprises information generated by the file system and/or operating system of client computing device 102, and can include, for example, file system data (e.g., regular files, file tables, mount points, etc.), operating system data (e.g., registries, event logs, etc.), and the like. The e-mail subclient 112B can include data generated by an e-mail application operating on client computing device 102, e.g., mailbox information, folder information, emails, attachments, associated database information, and the like. As described above, the subclients can be logical containers, and the data included in the corresponding primary data 112A and 1126 may or may not be stored contiguously.

The exemplary storage policy 148A includes backup copy preferences (or rule set) 160, disaster recovery copy preferences or rule set 162, and compliance copy preferences or rule set 164. Backup copy rule set 160 specifies that it is associated with file system subclient 166 and email subclient 168. Each of subclients 166 and 168 are associated with the particular client computing device 102. Backup copy rule set 160 further specifies that the backup operation will be written to disk library 108A and designates a particular media agent 144A to convey the data to disk library 108A. Finally, backup copy rule set 160 specifies that backup copies created according to rule set 160 are scheduled to be generated hourly and are to be retained for 30 days. In some other embodiments, scheduling information is not included in storage policy 148A and is instead specified by a separate scheduling policy.

Disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with the same two subclients 166 and 168. However, disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with tape library 108B, unlike backup copy rule set 160. Moreover, disaster recovery copy rule set 162 specifies that a different media agent, namely 144B, will convey data to tape library 108B. Disaster recovery copies created according to rule set 162 will be retained for 60 days and will be generated daily. Disaster recovery copies generated according to disaster recovery copy rule set 162 can provide protection in the event of a disaster or other catastrophic data loss that would affect the backup copy 116A maintained on disk library 108A.

Compliance copy rule set 164 is only associated with the email subclient 168, and not the file system subclient 166. Compliance copies generated according to compliance copy rule set 164 will therefore not include primary data 112A from the file system subclient 166. For instance, the organization may be under an obligation to store and maintain copies of email data for a particular period of time (e.g., 10 years) to comply with state or federal regulations, while similar regulations do not apply to file system data. Compliance copy rule set 164 is associated with the same tape library 108B and media agent 144B as disaster recovery copy rule set 162, although a different storage device or media agent could be used in other embodiments. Finally, compliance copy rule set 164 specifies that copies generated under compliance copy rule set 164 will be retained for 10 years and will be generated quarterly.

Secondary Copy Jobs

A logical grouping of secondary copy operations governed by a rule set and being initiated at a point in time may be referred to as a “secondary copy job” and sometimes may be called a “backup job,” even though it is not necessarily limited to creating backup copies. Secondary copy jobs may be initiated on demand as well. Steps 1-9 below illustrate three secondary copy jobs based on storage policy 148A.

At step 1, storage manager 140 initiates a backup job according to the backup copy rule set 160, which logically comprises all the secondary copy operations necessary to effectuate rules 160 in storage policy 148A every hour, including steps 1-4 occurring hourly. For instance, a scheduling service running on storage manager 140 accesses backup copy rule set 160 or a separate scheduling policy associated with client computing device 102 and initiates a backup job on an hourly basis. Thus, at the scheduled time, storage manager 140 sends instructions to client computing device 102 (i.e., to both data agent 142A and data agent 142B) to begin the backup job.

At step 2, file system data agent 142A and email data agent 142B operating on client computing device 102 respond to the instructions received from storage manager 140 by accessing and processing the respective subclient primary data 112A and 112B involved in the backup copy operation, which can be found in primary storage device 104. Because the secondary copy operation is a backup copy operation, the data agent(s) 142A, 142B may format the data into a backup format or otherwise process the data suitable for a backup copy.

At step 3, client computing device 102 (e.g., using file system data agent 142A) communicates the processed data to the first media agent 144A according to backup copy rule set 160, as directed by storage manager 140. Storage manager 140 may further keep a record in management database 146 of the association between media agent 144A and one or more of: client computing device 102, file system data agent 142A, and/or backup copy 116A.

The target media agent 144A receives the data-agent-processed data from client computing device 102, and at step 4 generates and conveys backup copy 116A to disk library 108A to be stored as backup copy 116A, again at the direction of storage manager 140 and according to backup copy rule set 160. Media agent 144A can also update its index 153 to include data and/or metadata related to backup copy 116A, such as information indicating where the backup copy 116A resides on disk library 108A, data and metadata for cache retrieval, etc. Storage manager 140 may similarly update its index 150 to include information relating to the secondary copy operation, such as information relating to the type of operation, a physical location associated with one or more copies created by the operation, the time the operation was performed, status information relating to the operation, the components involved in the operation, and the like. In some cases, storage manager 140 may update its index 150 to include some or all of the information stored in index 153 of media agent 144A. At this point, the backup job may be considered complete. After the 30-day retention period expires, storage manager 140 instructs media agent 144A to delete backup copy 116A from disk library 108A and indexes 150 and/or 153 are updated accordingly.

At step 5, storage manager 140 initiates another backup job according to the disaster recovery rule set 162. Illustratively this includes steps 5-7 occurring daily for creating disaster recovery copy 116B. Disaster recovery copy 166B will be based on backup copy 116A and not on primary data 112A and 1126.

At step 6, illustratively based on instructions received from storage manager 140 at step 5, the specified media agent 1446 retrieves the most recent backup copy 116A from disk library 108A.

At step 7, again at the direction of storage manager 140 and as specified in disaster recovery copy rule set 162, media agent 144B uses the retrieved data to create a disaster recovery copy 1166 and store it to tape library 1086. In some cases, disaster recovery copy 116B is a direct, mirror copy of backup copy 116A, and remains in the backup format. In other embodiments, disaster recovery copy 1166 may be generated in some other manner, such as by using primary data 112A, 112B from primary storage device 104 as source data. The disaster recovery copy operation is initiated once a day and disaster recovery copies 1166 are deleted after 60 days; indexes 153 and/or 150 are updated accordingly when/after each information management operation is executed and/or completed. The present backup job may be considered to be complete.

At step 8, storage manager 140 initiates another backup job according to compliance rule set 164, which includes steps 8-9 occurring quarterly for creating compliance copy 116C. For instance, storage manager 140 instructs media agent 144B to create compliance copy 116C on tape library 108B, as specified in the compliance copy rule set 164.

At step 9 in the example, compliance copy 116C is generated using disaster recovery copy 1166 as the source. In other embodiments, compliance copy 116C is instead generated using primary data 112B corresponding to the email subclient or using backup copy 116A from disk library 108A as source data. As specified in the illustrated example, compliance copies 116C are created quarterly, and are deleted after ten years, and indexes 153 and/or 150 are kept up-to-date accordingly.

Exemplary Applications of Storage Policies—Information Governance Policies and Classification

Storage manager 140 may permit a user to specify aspects of storage policy 148A. For example, the storage policy can be modified to include information governance policies to define how data should be managed in order to comply with a certain regulation or business objective. The various policies may be stored, for example, in management database 146. An information governance policy may align with one or more compliance tasks that are imposed by regulations or business requirements. Examples of information governance policies might include a Sarbanes-Oxley policy, a HIPAA policy, an electronic discovery (e-discovery) policy, and so on.

Information governance policies allow administrators to obtain different perspectives on an organization's online and offline data, without the need for a dedicated data silo created solely for each different viewpoint. As described previously, the data storage systems herein build an index that reflects the contents of a distributed data set that spans numerous clients and storage devices, including both primary data and secondary copies, and online and offline copies. An organization may apply multiple information governance policies in a top-down manner over that unified data set and indexing schema in order to view and manipulate the data set through different lenses, each of which is adapted to a particular compliance or business goal. Thus, for example, by applying an e-discovery policy and a Sarbanes-Oxley policy, two different groups of users in an organization can conduct two very different analyses of the same underlying physical set of data/copies, which may be distributed throughout the information management system.

An information governance policy may comprise a classification policy, which defines a taxonomy of classification terms or tags relevant to a compliance task and/or business objective. A classification policy may also associate a defined tag with a classification rule. A classification rule defines a particular combination of criteria, such as users who have created, accessed or modified a document or data object; file or application types; content or metadata keywords; clients or storage locations; dates of data creation and/or access; review status or other status within a workflow (e.g., reviewed or un-reviewed); modification times or types of modifications; and/or any other data attributes in any combination, without limitation. A classification rule may also be defined using other classification tags in the taxonomy. The various criteria used to define a classification rule may be combined in any suitable fashion, for example, via Boolean operators, to define a complex classification rule. As an example, an e-discovery classification policy might define a classification tag “privileged” that is associated with documents or data objects that (1) were created or modified by legal department staff, or (2) were sent to or received from outside counsel via email, or (3) contain one of the following keywords: “privileged” or “attorney” or “counsel”, or other like terms. Accordingly, all these documents or data objects will be classified as “privileged.”

One specific type of classification tag, which may be added to an index at the time of indexing, is an “entity tag.” An entity tag may be, for example, any content that matches a defined data mask format. Examples of entity tags might include, e.g., social security numbers (e.g., any numerical content matching the formatting mask XXX-XX-XXXX), credit card numbers (e.g., content having a 13-16 digit string of numbers), SKU numbers, product numbers, etc. A user may define a classification policy by indicating criteria, parameters or descriptors of the policy via a graphical user interface, such as a form or page with fields to be filled in, pull-down menus or entries allowing one or more of several options to be selected, buttons, sliders, hypertext links or other known user interface tools for receiving user input, etc. For example, a user may define certain entity tags, such as a particular product number or project ID code that is relevant in the organization. In some implementations, the classification policy can be implemented using cloud-based techniques. For example, the storage devices may be cloud storage devices, and the storage manager 140 may execute cloud service provider API over a network to classify data stored on cloud storage devices.

Restore Operations from Secondary Copies

While not shown in FIG. 1E, at some later point in time, a restore operation can be initiated involving one or more of secondary copies 116A, 1166, and 116C. A restore operation logically takes a selected secondary copy 116, reverses the effects of the secondary copy operation that created it, and stores the restored data to primary storage where a client computing device 102 may properly access it as primary data. A media agent 144 and an appropriate data agent 142 (e.g., executing on the client computing device 102) perform the tasks needed to complete a restore operation. For example, data that was encrypted, compressed, and/or deduplicated in the creation of secondary copy 116 will be correspondingly rehydrated (reversing deduplication), uncompressed, and unencrypted into a format appropriate to primary data. In general, restored data should be indistinguishable from other primary data 112. Preferably, the restored data has fully regained the native format that may make it immediately usable by application 110.

As one example, a user may manually initiate a restore of backup copy 116A, e.g., by interacting with user interface 158 of storage manager 140 or with a web-based console with access to system 100. Storage manager 140 may accesses data in its index 150 and/or management database 146 (and/or the respective storage policy 148A) associated with the selected backup copy 116A to identify the appropriate media agent 144A and/or secondary storage device 108A where the secondary copy resides. The user may be presented with a representation (e.g., stub, thumbnail, listing, etc.) and metadata about the selected secondary copy, in order to determine whether this is the appropriate copy to be restored, e.g., date that the original primary data was created. Storage manager 140 will then instruct media agent 144A and an appropriate data agent 142 to restore secondary copy 116A to primary storage device 104. A media agent may be selected for use in the restore operation based on a load balancing algorithm, an availability based algorithm, or other criteria. The selected media agent, e.g., 144A, retrieves secondary copy 116A from disk library 108A. For instance, media agent 144A may access its index 153 to identify a location of backup copy 116A on disk library 108A, or may access location information residing on disk library 108A itself.

In some cases when backup copy 116A was recently created or accessed, caching may speed up the restore operation. In such a case, media agent 144A accesses a cached version of backup copy 116A residing in index 153, without having to access disk library 108A for some or all of the data. Once it has retrieved backup copy 116A, the media agent 144A communicates the data to the requesting client computing device 102. Upon receipt, file system data agent 142A and email data agent 142B may unpackage (e.g., restore from a backup format to the native application format) the data in backup copy 116A and restore the unpackaged data to primary storage device 104. In general, secondary copies 116 may be restored to the same volume or folder in primary storage device 104 from which the secondary copy was derived; to another storage location or client computing device 102; to shared storage. In some cases the data may be restored so that it may be used by an application 110 of a different version/vintage from the application that created the original primary data 112.

Exemplary Secondary Copy Formatting

The formatting and structure of secondary copies 116 can vary depending on the embodiment. In some cases, secondary copies 116 are formatted as a series of logical data units or “chunks” (e.g., 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, or 8 GB chunks). This can facilitate efficient communication and writing to secondary storage devices 108, e.g., according to resource availability. For example, a single secondary copy 116 may be written on a chunk-by-chunk basis to one or more secondary storage devices 108. In some cases, users can select different chunk sizes, e.g., to improve throughput to tape storage devices. Generally, each chunk can include a header and a payload. The payload can include files (or other data units) or subsets thereof included in the chunk, whereas the chunk header generally includes metadata relating to the chunk, some or all of which may be derived from the payload. For example, during a secondary copy operation, media agent 144, storage manager 140, or other component may divide files into chunks and generate headers for each chunk by processing the files. The headers can include a variety of information such as file identifier(s), volume(s), offset(s), or other information associated with the payload data items, a chunk sequence number, etc. Importantly, in addition to being stored with secondary copy 116 on secondary storage device 108, the chunk headers can also be stored to index 153 of the associated media agent(s) 144 and/or to index 150 associated with storage manager 140. This can be useful in some cases for providing faster processing of secondary copies 116 during browsing, restores, or other operations. In some cases, once a chunk is successfully transferred to a secondary storage device 108, the secondary storage device 108 returns an indication of receipt, e.g., to media agent 144 and/or storage manager 140, which may update their respective indexes 153, 150 accordingly. During restore, chunks may be processed (e.g., by media agent 144) according to the information in the chunk header to reassemble the files.

Data can also be communicated within system 100 in data channels that connect client computing devices 102 to secondary storage devices 108. These data channels can be referred to as “data streams”, and multiple data streams can be employed to parallelize an information management operation, improving data transfer rate, among other advantages. Example data formatting techniques including techniques involving data streaming, chunking, and the use of other data structures in creating secondary copies are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,315,923 8,156,086, and 8,578,120.

FIGS. 1F and 1G are diagrams of example data streams 170 and 171, respectively, which may be employed for performing information management operations. Referring to FIG. 1F, data agent 142 forms data stream 170 from source data associated with a client computing device 102 (e.g., primary data 112). Data stream 170 is composed of multiple pairs of stream header 172 and stream data (or stream payload) 174. Data streams 170 and 171 shown in the illustrated example are for a single-instanced storage operation, and a stream payload 174 therefore may include both single-instance (SI) data and/or non-SI data. A stream header 172 includes metadata about the stream payload 174. This metadata may include, for example, a length of the stream payload 174, an indication of whether the stream payload 174 is encrypted, an indication of whether the stream payload 174 is compressed, an archive file identifier (ID), an indication of whether the stream payload 174 is single instanceable, and an indication of whether the stream payload 174 is a start of a block of data.

Referring to FIG. 1G, data stream 171 has the stream header 172 and stream payload 174 aligned into multiple data blocks. In this example, the data blocks are of size 64 KB. The first two stream header 172 and stream payload 174 pairs comprise a first data block of size 64 KB. The first stream header 172 indicates that the length of the succeeding stream payload 174 is 63 KB and that it is the start of a data block. The next stream header 172 indicates that the succeeding stream payload 174 has a length of 1 KB and that it is not the start of a new data block. Immediately following stream payload 174 is a pair comprising an identifier header 176 and identifier data 178. The identifier header 176 includes an indication that the succeeding identifier data 178 includes the identifier for the immediately previous data block. The identifier data 178 includes the identifier that the data agent 142 generated for the data block. The data stream 171 also includes other stream header 172 and stream payload 174 pairs, which may be for SI data and/or non-SI data.

FIG. 1H is a diagram illustrating data structures 180 that may be used to store blocks of SI data and non-SI data on a storage device (e.g., secondary storage device 108). According to certain embodiments, data structures 180 do not form part of a native file system of the storage device. Data structures 180 include one or more volume folders 182, one or more chunk folders 184/185 within the volume folder 182, and multiple files within chunk folder 184. Each chunk folder 184/185 includes a metadata file 186/187, a metadata index file 188/189, one or more container files 190/191/193, and a container index file 192/194. Metadata file 186/187 stores non-SI data blocks as well as links to SI data blocks stored in container files. Metadata index file 188/189 stores an index to the data in the metadata file 186/187. Container files 190/191/193 store SI data blocks. Container index file 192/194 stores an index to container files 190/191/193. Among other things, container index file 192/194 stores an indication of whether a corresponding block in a container file 190/191/193 is referred to by a link in a metadata file 186/187. For example, data block B2 in the container file 190 is referred to by a link in metadata file 187 in chunk folder 185. Accordingly, the corresponding index entry in container index file 192 indicates that data block B2 in container file 190 is referred to. As another example, data block B1 in container file 191 is referred to by a link in metadata file 187, and so the corresponding index entry in container index file 192 indicates that this data block is referred to.

As an example, data structures 180 illustrated in FIG. 1H may have been created as a result of separate secondary copy operations involving two client computing devices 102. For example, a first secondary copy operation on a first client computing device 102 could result in the creation of the first chunk folder 184, and a second secondary copy operation on a second client computing device 102 could result in the creation of the second chunk folder 185. Container files 190/191 in the first chunk folder 184 would contain the blocks of SI data of the first client computing device 102. If the two client computing devices 102 have substantially similar data, the second secondary copy operation on the data of the second client computing device 102 would result in media agent 144 storing primarily links to the data blocks of the first client computing device 102 that are already stored in the container files 190/191. Accordingly, while a first secondary copy operation may result in storing nearly all of the data subject to the operation, subsequent secondary storage operations involving similar data may result in substantial data storage space savings, because links to already stored data blocks can be stored instead of additional instances of data blocks.

If the operating system of the secondary storage computing device 106 on which media agent 144 operates supports sparse files, then when media agent 144 creates container files 190/191/193, it can create them as sparse files. A sparse file is a type of file that may include empty space (e.g., a sparse file may have real data within it, such as at the beginning of the file and/or at the end of the file, but may also have empty space in it that is not storing actual data, such as a contiguous range of bytes all having a value of zero). Having container files 190/191/193 be sparse files allows media agent 144 to free up space in container files 190/191/193 when blocks of data in container files 190/191/193 no longer need to be stored on the storage devices. In some examples, media agent 144 creates a new container file 190/191/193 when a container file 190/191/193 either includes 100 blocks of data or when the size of the container file 190 exceeds 50 MB. In other examples, media agent 144 creates a new container file 190/191/193 when a container file 190/191/193 satisfies other criteria (e.g., it contains from approximately 100 to approximately 1000 blocks or when its size exceeds approximately 50 MB to 1 GB). In some cases, a file on which a secondary copy operation is performed may comprise a large number of data blocks. For example, a 100 MB file may comprise 400 data blocks of size 256 KB. If such a file is to be stored, its data blocks may span more than one container file, or even more than one chunk folder. As another example, a database file of 20 GB may comprise over 40,000 data blocks of size 512 KB. If such a database file is to be stored, its data blocks will likely span multiple container files, multiple chunk folders, and potentially multiple volume folders. Restoring such files may require accessing multiple container files, chunk folders, and/or volume folders to obtain the requisite data blocks.

Dynamic Triggering of Block-Level Backups Based on Block Change Thresholds and Corresponding File Identities

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating some salient portions of a data storage management system 200 for dynamic triggering of block-level backups based on block change thresholds and corresponding file identities, according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Data storage management system 200 (or “system 200”) may be an embodiment of an enhanced information management system comprising: client computing device 102 hosting application 110-A and file system 110-FS, as well as application-specific block-level data agent 270 and file system data agent 280 communicating via communication pathway 275; primary storage device 104 storing primary data 112; storage manager 240; report server 250; and index server 260. System 200 also comprises other components, such as media agents and secondary storage devices, which are not shown in the present figure. The components may be logically interconnected as shown by the arrows. The physical communications infrastructure necessary to support the depicted interconnections and other connections is well known in the art and may be any suitable electronic communications infrastructure, such as that described in regard to communication pathways 114 above.

Client computing device 102, which is described in more detail elsewhere herein, hosts an application 110-A, such as a database management system, which is associated with application-specific block-level data agent 270. Client computing device 102 also hosts a suitable file system 110-FS, which is associated with file-system data agent 280.

Primary storage device 104, which was described in more detail elsewhere herein, stores primary data 112, which is accessible by application 110-A and file system 110-FS. For example, in the course of operating, application 110-A may read and/or write from/to primary data 112 as is well known in the art.

Application 110-A may be any application that executes on a computing device such as client computing device 102. For example, application 110-A may be a database management system, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, IBM Notes, Microsoft Active Directory, etc. without limitation. Applications 110-A are well known in the art.

File system 110-FS generally is specific to the operating system of the client computing device 102, and may be for example Microsoft Windows File System (Explorer), UNIX/Linux file systems, Macintosh file system, OES file system, NAS file system, etc. without limitation. File system 110-FS is well known in the art.

Primary data 112 is described in more detail elsewhere herein. Primary data 112 may change as a result of write operations performed by application 110-A and/or file system 110-FS. Traditionally, primary data 112 is protected according to timed criteria, such as executing a weekly full backup and daily incremental backups. As explained in more detail herein, the illustrative embodiment according to the present invention protects primary data 112 based on block-change profiles rather than timed criteria. Accordingly, certain block-level changes in primary data 112 may trigger backup operations dynamically, as change is detected or as a threshold is passed, rather than relying on a scheduled time. Thus, certain highly changeable primary data 112 may be backed up frequently, whereas less changeable data may be backed up only rarely. In some cases, certain important files may be specially targeted for backup whenever change is detected, e.g., password files. Moreover, backups that are dynamically triggered by the illustrative system are block-level backups, which means that only changed blocks in a given file are backed up, rather than backing up the file as a whole. The dynamic triggering scheme based on change thresholds (rather than time) coupled with block-level (rather than file-level) backups advantageously directs relatively scarce resources to protect changeable and specially-targeted data. The illustrative system is thus flexibly responsive to change “load,” contrary to traditional schemes that are based on time-of-day and day-of-week (timed) criteria.

Storage manager 240 is analogous to storage manager 140 and further comprises additional features and functionality for operating in system 200, which are described in more detail in a subsequent figure.

Report server 250 is a computing device that comprises functionality suitable for operating in system 200 and is described in more detail in a subsequent figure. In general, report server 250 performs data analysis of monitored changes and historical block-change activity in primary data 112 and responds to general and custom queries. In some alternative embodiments, the functionality of report server 250 is incorporated into storage manager 240 and/or index server 260.

Index server 260 is a computing device that comprises functionality suitable for operating in system 200 and is described in more detail in a subsequent figure. In general, index server 260 collects time-stamped information about changed blocks from any number of application-specific data agents 270, and also collects inode data from file system data agents 280. Index server 260 is generally responsible for indexing these collected data and for monitoring block changes based on thresholds. In some alternative embodiments, the functionality of index server 260 is incorporated into storage manager 240 and/or report server 250.

Application-specific block-level data agent 270 (or “data agent 270”) is an embodiment of a data agent 142, which is enhanced for operating in system 200. Data agent 270 is application-aware relative to its associated application 110-A to provide consistent point-in-time protection—at the block level—for primary data 112 accessed by associated application 110-A. Application protection utilizes application-aware data agents to provide consistent point-in-time protection for application data. Granular protection for Exchange, SharePoint, IBM Notes, and other applications facilitates flexible data protection strategies and simplified recovery methods. Database protection also utilizes application-aware data agents to provide a simplified end-to-end backup solution for database environments of any size. Database data agents intelligently quiesce databases when needed, and provide robust and comprehensive backup and recovery with significant speed and performance, and efficient use of disk and tape drives. These agents also assist in full system rebuilds and eliminate recovery failures. Application-specific block-level data agent 270 is, according to the illustrative embodiment, in communication with a co-resident file system data agent 280, using communication pathway 275. Communication pathway 275 enables these two distinct types of data agents to communicate with each other and interoperate as described in further detail herein (see, e.g., components 370 and 380; blocks 502-506). Thus, communication pathway 275 enables many of the features described herein according to the illustrative embodiment.

File system data agent 280 (or “data agent 280”) is an embodiment of a data agent 142, which is enhanced for operating in system 200. A given data agent 280 is particularly designed to protect a file system running on a particular operating system, e.g., Microsoft Windows, UNIX/Linux, etc. without limitation. File system backups provide the fundamental data protection strategy for any environment. File backups are supported for all major operating systems and include inherent file system capabilities based on the operating system being protected.

System 200 may comprise any number of client computing devices 102, hosting any number of data agents 270 and 280, and may further comprise any number of report servers 250 and index servers 260, which may be distributed geographically without limitation.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating certain details of system 200 and illustratively depicts: secondary storage computing device 106 hosting media agent 144; secondary storage device 108 storing block-level secondary copies 116; block-level backup trigger 340, user interface 341, and management database 346, hosted by storage manager 240; block change reporter 350, hosted by report server 250; block change analyzer 360 and block information database 362, hosted by index server 260; module 370 and block monitor 372 hosted by application-specific block-level data agent 270; and module 380 hosted by file system data agent 280; and file system index 382 residing in file system 110-FS.

Block-level secondary copies 116 represent copies of primary data 112 that result from block-level backups triggered according to the present disclosure. When certain block-change thresholds are passed in system 200, block-level backup operations are triggered that generate one or more block-level secondary copies 116.

Block-level backup trigger 340 is a functional component of storage manager 240, and may be implemented as executable software and/or firmware, which executes on the underlying computing device that hosts storage manager 240. When it executes according to the illustrative embodiment, trigger 340 may receive communications from index server 260 indicating that a block-change threshold has been passed according to the monitoring performed by index server 260. For example, index server 260 may indicate that a 1 MB threshold was exceeded by a certain set of data blocks that changed in a certain volume V1 of primary data 112 or in a certain file F1 in primary data 112. In response, trigger 340 may compare this information against data stored in management database 346 to determine what operation to trigger for the reported threshold; trigger 340 may then initiate a suitable block-level backup, such as a backup of the set of changed blocks in file F1 or volume V1. Notably, the block-level backup operation does not back up the entire volume V1 or file F1, but only backs up the identified set of changed blocks that passed the pre-administered threshold.

User interface 341 is a functional component of storage manager 240, and may be implemented as executable software and/or firmware, which executes on the underlying computing device that hosts storage manager 240. When it executes according to the illustrative embodiment, user interface 341 may receive administrative input that includes block-change thresholds and file identifiers which are to be used for triggering block-level backup operations. The administered information may be stored to management database 346 and may be communicated to index server 260 for monitoring purposes.

User interface 341 may further operate to collect input for queries regarding block changes in system 200. Accordingly, user interface 341 may be in communication with report server 250, transmitting queries thereto. Query responses generated by report server 250 may be presented by user interface 341 to the querying user, e.g., via a console (not shown here).

Management database 346 is analogous to management database 146 and further comprises additional data for operations in system 200. For example, such additional (administrable and/or default) data may include block-change thresholds that are to be enforced for triggering block-level backup operations. Examples of block-change thresholds may include: a number of changed data blocks in the system; a number of changed data blocks in a certain data storage volume; a number of changed data blocks in a certain storage device 104; a percentage of changed data blocks in a certain data storage volume; a percentage of changed data blocks in a certain data storage device 104; etc. without limitation and/or in any combination thereof. The block-change thresholds may include file identifiers for primary data files that are targeted for block-change monitoring and threshold enforcement. For example, a certain file such as a password file or customer configuration database may contain sensitive information and may be specially flagged for backup whenever any change to the file is detected. In this example, a block-change threshold of 0 bytes would be associated with the file ID and when data blocks in this file are detected to have changed (i.e., greater than 0 bytes), those data blocks would be backed up in a block-level backup. The block-change thresholds may further include timing parameters, such that block changes may be measured as a function of time, e.g., a number of data blocks changing in a certain volume in the past hour, a percentage of data blocks changed in a file in the past day, etc. A default timing parameter also may be implemented, so that any files that have failed to pass the block-change threshold after a certain period of time, e.g., a week, a month, etc. will be backed up regardless of block-change activity. The specifics of the block-change thresholds, such as the number of changed data blocks, percentages, targeted file identifiers, targeted volume identifiers, storage device identifiers, timing parameters, etc., may be referred to herein for convenience as “operational parameters” of the block-change thresholds.

Additionally, management database 346 may also comprise reporting parameters for requesting block change reports from report server 250. For example, storage manager 240 may request a daily report on block changes from report server 250. For example, storage manager 240 may request a report on file-by-file block changes over a certain number. There is no limit to the block-change reporting parameters that may be configured (e.g., via user interface 341) and stored in management database 346.

Block change reporter 350 is a functional component of report server 250 and may be implemented as executable software and/or firmware. When it executes according to the illustrative embodiment, reporter 350 may receive queries from storage manager 240 (e.g., via user interface 341) seeking information about block changes in system 200. The queries may be pre-administered report requests and/or on-demand custom queries. For example, system 240 may request a daily report on block changes based on pre-administered reporting parameters stored in management database 346. Queries may ask about block changes in certain storage devices 104, primary data storage volumes, and/or primary data files. Queries may ask about block changes exceeding a certain size (e.g., >1 MB) or percentage or frequency relative to one or more storage devices, volumes, and/or files. Queries may also ask about applications 110, e.g., which applications 110 caused the most or the most frequent block changes in a certain time interval. Block change reporter 350 may: parse each query; determine which relevant information to extract locally and from block information database 362 on index server 260, e.g., which tables to access; execute the query based on the extracted data; formulate a responsive answer to the query; and transmit the answer to storage manager 240 and/or user interface 341 for presentation to the querying user, etc. without limitation and in any combination.

Block change analyzer 360 is a functional component of index server 260 and may be implemented as executable software and/or firmware. When it executes according to the illustrative embodiment, analyzer 360 may receive administrative input from storage manager 240 that includes block-change thresholds and file identifiers which are to be used by index server 260 for monitoring block changes. For example, storage manager 240 may instruct index server 240 to monitor block changes in certain data storage devices 104, data storage volumes, and/or set of blocks storing the contents of a given file. Analyzer 360 may monitor point-in-time bitmaps received from any number of application-specific block-level data agents 270. Analyzer 360 may further determine whether any block-change thresholds have been passed, and if so, analyzer 360 may report accordingly to storage manager 240, which may then initiate a suitable block-level backup.

Block information database 362 is a data structure or collection of data structures stored in local computer memory (e.g., cache or local disk that is part of or associated with index server 260). Database 362 generally comprises information about data blocks in system 200 and related relationships and associations. Details on the contents of database 362 are given in a subsequent figure. By maintaining database 362 in local memory, index server 260 may readily access the data therein for its own processing, such as for threshold monitoring, as well as for supplying data to other components such as report server 250.

Functional component 370 is illustratively embodied as a plug-in module (“module 370”) that enables application-specific data agents such as 270 to communicate with a co-resident file system data agent such as 280, which operates on the same client computing device 102. Component 370 illustratively requests inode or equivalent file-to-block relationship information from file system data agent 280, e.g., via plug-in 380. The term “inode” will be used for convenience herein in reference to UNIX and non-UNIX-style file systems alike. Illustratively, application-specific data agent 270 does not process the inode information received from file system data agent 280. Instead, data agent 270 may transmit the received inode information to index server 260 (e.g., via block monitor 372 and/or via module 370) to be stored to block information database 362. In the prior art, co-resident data agents traditionally do not communicate with each other; rather, each data agent is directed at tracking primary data 112 accessed by its associated executable component 110, so that the primary data 112 and the executable component 110 may be properly protected. Such traditional operations do not involve communications with other data agents. According to the illustrative embodiment, co-resident data agents may communicate key information (e.g., inodes) that enables system 200 to track block changes for certain files of interest. The tracking of block changes to certain files and/or applications as disclosed herein would not be possible without the information received by application-specific data agent 270 from file system data agent 280.

Block monitor 372 is a functional component of application-specific block-level data agent 270 and may be implemented as executable software and/or firmware. When it executes according to the illustrative embodiment, block monitor 372 tracks operations performed by the associated application 110-A which writes to primary data 112. Block monitor 372 tracks each data block in primary data 112 that is accessible to associated application 110-A, and thus may be written one or more times by application 110-A as it executes. Block monitor 372 generates and maintains a “bitmap” that represents a change status of each tracked data block as compared to a preceding point-in-time bitmap (see, e.g., bitmaps 461 in FIG. 4). The bitmap is a representation of changed data blocks resulting from write operations performed by the associated application 110-A. Illustratively, a distinct bitmap is maintained for each distinct storage device being monitored. When a write to a given data block is detected, block monitor 372 enters a “changed” flag in the bitmap being maintained (see, e.g., FIG. 4). Periodically, block monitor 372 timestamps a version of the current bitmap and transmits it to index server 260 as a point-in-time bitmap 461. The reporting period may be administrable, e.g., every minute, every half-hour, etc. In addition to the point-in-time bitmaps, block monitor 372 may also transmit inode information obtained from file system data agent 270 to index server 260. Block monitor 372 may also initiate requests for inode information to be transmitted (e.g., via module 370 and communication pathway 275) to file system data agent 280; may reset a current bitmap after a point-in-time bitmap transmission, etc. More details are given in regard to method 500 and other methods described herein.

Functional component 380 is illustratively embodied as a plug-in module that enables a file system data agent such as 280 to communicate with a co-resident application-specific data agent such as 270, which operates on the same client computing device 102—illustratively using communication pathway 275. Component 380 illustratively receives inode requests from data agent 270, causes file system data agent 280 or the underlying operating system to perform a file system scan to collect the inode information, and responsively transmits the inode information to application-specific data agent 270, e.g., via module 370. File system scans are well known in the art and are used to elicit inode or equivalent information, i.e., which data blocks belong to which files in the file system. However, a file system scan is relatively time-consuming and therefore is not frequently executed. According to the illustrative embodiment, a file system scan is performed in response to a request from application-specific data agent 270, e.g., requested weekly. The inode information is used in system 200 for constructing maps that enable “reverse lookups” from a block ID key to identify a file and/or application responsible for the data block (see, e.g., mappings 469 and 467 in FIG. 4).

File system index 382 resides in and is part of file system 110-FS, according to file system configurations well known in the art. File system index 382 comprises the above-mentioned inode information. As noted, the inode information in index 382 may be transmitted to file system data agent 280 for transmission therefrom to block-level data agent 280, e.g., using module 380. In alternative embodiments, block-level data agent 270 may extract the inode information directly from file system index 382.

The functional components depicted herein (e.g., 340, 341, 350, 360, 370, 372, 380, etc.) are shown as distinct components to ease understanding of the present disclosure; however, alternative embodiments are also possible within the scope of the present invention. Each illustrative functional component may be implemented as an integral part of its parent, a linked library, or a logical construct whose functionality is distributed through one or more other functional modules in the parent. For example, user interface 341 may be an enhancement to user interface 158. In some embodiments, some of these functional components may be combined, e.g., module 370 and block monitor 372. In some alternative embodiments, a functional component may operate on another computing device without departing from the scope of the present invention, e.g., block change reporter 350 may operate on storage manager 240 or index server 260, etc., without limitation.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating suitable data structures for storing information relating to block-change tracking in block information database 362 in system 200. FIG. 4 depicts block information database 362 comprising: point-in-time bitmaps 461; application-to-file mapping 463; inode information 465; indexed “reverse lookup” file-to-application mapping 467; and indexed “reverse lookup” block-to-file mapping 469. Block information database 362 may comprise any number of these data structures. Block information database 362 illustratively resides in index server 260.

Point-in-time storage device bitmaps 461 (or “bitmaps 461” or “point-in-time bitmaps 461”) are illustratively data structures received from application-specific block-level data agent 270. As explained, block monitor 372 periodically transmits to index server 260 a time-stamped bitmap reflecting the point-in-time change status of every monitored block in a given data storage device relative to a preceding point-in-time bitmap. A bitmap 461 may comprise a timestamp, block-by-block device and block identifiers, and corresponding block change status relative to a preceding bitmap, e.g., “changed” or “unchanged.” Any number of bitmaps 461 may be received by index server 260 at any time and from any number of application-specific data agents 270, and may be stored to block information database 362.

Application-to-file mapping 463 illustrates a data structure that captures application-to-file relationships received from application-specific data agent 270. Accordingly, a mapping 463 may comprise a set of file identifiers for files that may be generated or writable by (i.e., accessible to) application 110 tracked by data agent 270.

Inode information 465 illustrates a data structure that provides file-to-data-block relationships; inode information 465 may be obtained from file system index 382 in regard to file system 110-FS, and may be reported by file system data agent 280 (or alternatively, may be directly extracted by block-level data agent 270). Inodes are well known in the art under the “inode” name or another name and are used by many file systems including UNIX-style and otherwise to represent objects in a filesystem, such as a file or a directory. Each inode may store, in reference to a data object such as a file: the storage device ID, block ID, storage device location of constituent data blocks, and other metadata of the respective data object, etc. Thus, inode information provides a mapping from a file identifier to its constituent data blocks that store the contents of the file. According to the illustrative embodiment, inode information for file system 110-FS originally resides in an index for the file system, e.g., file system index 382 shown in FIG. 3, from which it is extracted for storage in block information database 362.

Indexed “reverse lookup” file-to-application mapping 467 is a data structure generated by index server 260. Illustratively, index server 260 may process application-to-file mappings 463 by indexing file identifiers resulting in mapping 467. Accordingly, using mapping 467, a reverse lookup may be executed from a file identifier key to find its associated application 110.

Indexed “reverse lookup” block-to-file mapping 469 is a data structure generated by index server 260. Illustratively, index server 260 may process bitmaps 461 by indexing the tracked data blocks, resulting in mapping 469. Accordingly, using mapping 469, a reverse lookup may be executed from a device and block identifier key to find the file that comprises the data block. When block changes are monitored as described herein, mapping 469 enables system 200 to trigger block-level backups based on thresholds directed to certain files.

More details on how these data structures may be used in system 200 are given in regard to methods 500, 600, 700, and 800 described in FIGS. 5-8.

FIG. 5 depicts some salient operations of a method 500 according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Method 500 is generally directed at operations executed by application-specific block-level data agent 270 and file system data agent 280, according to the illustrative embodiment.

At block 502, data agent 270 may query (e.g., using module 370) file system data agent 280 (e.g., using module 380) for inode or equivalent block information for files accessed by associated application 110-A. In some embodiments, the query requests the results of a file system scan, such as a scan of file system 110-FS. The query may include one or more specific file identities. Because file system scans are computationally costly, they are not often requested, e.g., weekly. In some alternative embodiments, data agent 270 may extract inode information directly from file system 110-FS, e.g., from file system index 382.

At block 504, file system data agent 280 may perform or cause the underlying operating system to perform a file system scan of file system 110-FS. Data agent 280 may then report the resulting inode information to data agent 270 in response to the query/request. File system scans and inode collection are well known in the art. In some embodiments, the inode information resulting from the file system scan may be partially stripped by file system data agent 280 in order to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted to data agent 270 and ultimately reported to index server 260. For example, only inode information sufficient to perform the operations disclosed herein may be transmitted, which will be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art after reading the present disclosure.

At block 506, data agent 270 may transmit the inode information received from file system data agent 280 to index server 260 (e.g., data structure 465). Preferably, the inode information is transmitted without further processing by data agent 270 in order to minimize how much data processing data agent 270 needs to perform in service of system 200. This information may be indexed by index server 260.

At block 508, data agent 270 may identify one or more files that are accessed by the associated application 110-A. Data agent 270 may generate application-to-file mapping 463 for tracked application 110-A, and transmit mapping 463 to index server 260. This information may be indexed by index server 260.

At block 510, data agent 270 (e.g., using block monitor 372) may monitor data blocks in primary data 112 that are accessible by tracked application 110-A. Based on the monitoring, data agent 270 may identify which blocks are written to and may accordingly maintain a block-change bitmap that reflects whether a block has changed relative to a preceding bitmap. Data agent 270 may maintain any number of block-change bitmaps, e.g., one bitmap per data storage device 104, one collective bitmap for all data storage devices used by application 110-A, etc. in any combination or permutation.

At block 512, data agent 270 may periodically timestamp the current block-change bitmap and transmit it as a point-in-time bitmap 461 to index server 260. An example of a point-in-time bitmap 461 is shown in FIG. 4. The periodicity may be administrable on a per-data-agent basis and/or as a system-wide default applicable to all data agents 270.

At block 515, after transmitting a point-in-time bitmap 461 to index server 260, data agent 270 may re-initialize the block-change bitmap it is maintaining. Control may pass back to block 510 to continue monitoring block write operations performed by the tracked application 110-A.

At block 517, data agent 270 may, in response to instructions from storage manager 240, participate in block-level backups of primary data 112 accessed by application 110-A (which is tracked by data agent 270). According to the illustrative embodiment, the block-level backups may be triggered via block-change thresholds which are monitored by index server 260. Control may pass to block 502 for an updated query and subsequent operations following the successful completion of the block-level backup. Method 500 may end.

FIG. 6 depicts some salient operations of a method 600 according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Method 600 is generally performed by index server 260 (e.g., using block-change analyzer 360), according to the illustrative embodiment.

At block 602, index server 260 may receive block-change thresholds, including operational parameters, e.g., size, percent, file ID, application, ID, timing, etc., which are to be monitored for block changes and analyzed by index server 260. Illustratively, the thresholds are received from storage manager 240. Exemplary thresholds may include one or more of the following examples, in any combination and permutation and without limitation:

-   -   Size (a measure of changed data blocks), i.e., a number of         blocks or bytes of data collectively in a set of changed data         blocks (any size data blocks are supported by system 200); for         example, a first set of changed data blocks amounts to 1 MB of         data;     -   Percent (another measure of changed data blocks), i.e., a         percentage of data blocks changed as a percentage of the total         number of data blocks in a unit such as a data storage device         104, a data volume, a file, etc.; for example, 10% of data         blocks have changed in a second set of changed blocks;     -   File identifier, i.e., a measure of changed data blocks that are         part of a given file; for example, 0 bytes (i.e., any change at         all) for a password file will pass the threshold and trigger a         block-level backup of the respective changed blocks in a third         set of data blocks that form the password file; for example, 5%         changed blocks in the password file; etc.     -   Application identifier, i.e., a measure of changed data blocks         relative to a certain application; this may be used for         rarely-used applications that usually generate no changed data,         but which on occasion do so, at which point a block-level backup         is desirable; for example, 0 bytes (i.e., any change at all) for         a payroll application will pass the threshold and trigger a         block-level backup of the respective changed blocks in a fourth         set of data blocks that are accessible to the application and/or         which form the files associated with the application; etc.     -   Timing, i.e., a measure of changed data blocks occurring over a         unit of time, e.g., per hour, relative to one or more of the         entities above such as a data storage device 104, a data volume,         a file, and/or an application; thus, rate of change may be         monitored with block-change thresholds.         Any number and kind of block-change thresholds may be         additionally devised by someone having ordinary skill in the art         after reading the present disclosure.

At block 604, index server 260 may receive information from application-specific block-level data agent 270. This information may include inode information 465 (obtained from file system data agent 280), application-to-file mapping 463, etc. This information may be obtained at the same time, at different times, and/or on an ongoing or periodic basis. For example, inode information may be received weekly, following a file system scan. Application-to-file mapping 463 may accompany the inode information. Index server 260 may store the received data to block information database 362. The received data may be stored in any suitable format. Examples are shown in FIG. 4.

At block 608, index server 260 may index the received inode information 465 to generate “reverse lookup” block-to-file mapping 469. Accordingly, by indexing the block identifiers found in inode information 465, index server 260 may generate data structure 469, which enables one to find a file identifier based on device and block identifier keys. The mapping 469 may be stored to block information database 362, as shown in FIG. 4.

At block 610, index server 260 may index received application-to-file mapping 463 to generate “reverse lookup” file-to-application mapping 467. Accordingly, by indexing the file identifiers found in mapping 463, index server 260 may generate data structure 467, which enables one to find an application identifier based on file identifier keys. The mapping 467 may be stored to block information database 362, as shown in FIG. 4.

At block 611, index server 260 may receive point-in-time bitmaps 461 from application-specific block-level data agent 270. These may be received periodically, according to how they are tracked and reported by the data agent, e.g., every 30 minutes, etc., without limitation. Bitmaps 461 may be received in reference to any number of physical and logical storage devices 104 and may be received from any number of data agents 270. Index server 260 may store the received data to block information database 362. The received data may be stored in any suitable format. Examples are shown in FIG. 4.

At block 612, index server 260 may monitor point-in-time bitmaps 461 against block-change thresholds. This is an ongoing operation. For example, index server 260 may keep a running total relative to each threshold being monitored, depending on the operational parameters of the threshold, e.g., time period, measure of changed data blocks, etc. For example, index server 260 may keep a running count of changed blocks and bytes relative to each data storage device 104 being reported on by bitmaps 461. For example, index server 260 may keep a running count of changed blocks and bytes relative to a given data volume in a data storage device or a logical data volume that spans multiple data storage devices. Likewise, index server 260 may keep a running total of changed blocks and bytes for a particular targeted file and/or application. Index server 260 may keep count as a function of time, e.g., blocks changing per unit time, percent change per unit time, etc., which may be determined from the timestamp of each point-in-time bitmap 461. Any number, combinations, and permutations of suitable block-change thresholds may be monitored by index server 260 (e.g., using block-change analyzer 360). Index server 260 uses various system resources to monitor, track, and determine when thresholds are passed, e.g., block-to-file mapping 469; file-to-application mapping 467; data storage queries/reporting to/from data storage devices such as 104, as well as other suitable resources as described elsewhere herein

At block 614, index server 260 (e.g., using block-change analyzer 360) may determine, based on the ongoing monitoring, when a threshold is passed. For example, index server 260 may determine that data blocks exceeding 1 MB of data have changed in a certain data storage device 104 based on one of the running counts. Since the illustrative 1 MB threshold has been passed, index server 260 may report the event to storage manager 240 accordingly; the report may include storage device and block identifiers for the set of changed data blocks. The report may cause storage manager 240 to trigger a suitable block-level backup of the changed data blocks.

At block 616, index server 260 may re-initialize one or more baseline counts used in its threshold analysis. In some embodiments, index server 260 may re-initialize following a message from storage manager 240 reporting that a backup of the reported-on changed blocks has successfully completed. In some embodiments, index server 260 may re-initialize based on instructions to that effect received from storage manager 240, e.g., after a block-level backup has completed successfully. Control may pass back to block 611 so that index server 260 may continue receiving point-in-time bitmaps and monitoring block-change thresholds.

FIG. 7 depicts some salient operations of a method 700 according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Method is generally performed by storage manager 240, according to the illustrative embodiment.

At block 702, storage manager may administer block-change thresholds, including operational parameters such as block-change size, block-change percentage, file ID, application ID, timing, rate of change, etc., in any combination and permutation without limitation. Examples of block-change thresholds are given in regard to block 602 and elsewhere herein. Any number of block-change thresholds may be administered and in one or more levels of granularity. For example, a system-wide block-change threshold may be defined at 1.5 MB, and may be implemented automatically or via system administration. More granular block-change thresholds may be administered for certain file identifiers, for example. The block-change thresholds are illustratively stored in management database 346. The block-change thresholds will be monitored for triggering block-level backups.

At block 704, storage manager 240 may transmit the block-change thresholds to index server 260 for block-change monitoring. Any number of block-change thresholds may be transmitted at any time and at various times. For example, a block-change threshold may measure an absolute count of changed blocks in a set of data blocks accessible to a tracked client application or during a pre-defined period of time or a percent change or rate of change; block changes for a specific data file accessible to the tracked application, including absolute counts, specified periods, rates of change or percentage change; block changes for a particular tracked application across any number of data storage devices, including absolute counts, specified periods, rates of change or percentage change; block changes for a selected physical or logical storage volume accessible to one or more tracked applications, including absolute counts, specified periods, rates of change or percentage change; block changes for a file system accessible to the tracked application, including absolute counts, specified periods, rates of change or percentage change; and any combination and permutation thereof.

At block 706, storage manager 240 may receive communications from index server 260 reporting when a block-change threshold has been passed, e.g., a measure of changed data blocks has been exceeded. The communications may take any suitable form, e.g., message(s), instructions, report(s), etc. The communications may indicate which changed data blocks were counted against the respective block-change threshold, and may further indicate which entity passed the block-change threshold, e.g., a data storage device, a storage volume, a file, an application, etc. The changed data blocks as reported by index server 260 may be referred to for convenience in the present method as a first set of changed data blocks.

At block 708, based on the communications received from index server 260, storage manager 240 may trigger a suitable block-level backup of the first set of changed data blocks. Block-level backups generally provide better performance over file system backups and disk image-based backups because only the changed blocks are involved in the backup. The block-level backup trigger may include instructions issued by storage manager 240 to application-specific block-level data agent 270 and to media agent 144. Media agent 144 is tasked with storing the copied blocks as block-level secondary copies 116 to one or more secondary storage devices 108. In some embodiments, block-level secondary copies 116 are stored by media agent 144 to a primary storage device 104 so that they are co-resident with the primary data blocks being copied. Job reporting occurs in the ordinary course before, during, and after the block-level backup job is completed.

At block 710, storage manager 240 may report the successful completion of the block-level backup and/or instructions to index server 260, thus causing index server 260 to re-initialize its block-change counters for that particular threshold. Thus, the threshold is re-initialized after a successful backup. Likewise, storage manager 240 may further report the successful completion of the block-level backup to report server 250, for re-initialization of certain reports as appropriate. A failed block-level backup job preferably will not cause thresholds to be re-initialized, however, a failed-job report may cause index server 260 to defer its next passed-threshold report for a certain amount of time to avoid over-triggering backups.

At block 712, storage manager 240 may administer reporting parameters and queries to be issued to report server 250. These may be referred to as “canned” queries, because they are pre-administered. Storage manager 240 may store the canned queries to management database 346 for future use. The queries may pertain to block-change activity in system 200. Example queries are discussed in more detail in regard to method 800.

At block 714, storage manager 240 may periodically issue one or more pre-administered (canned) queries to report server 250, e.g., daily, weekly. Upon receiving a responsive report from report server 250, storage manager 240 may store it to management database 346 and/or display it to a user such as a system administrator, e.g., via user interface 341. Storage manager 240 may further parse information in the received report and/or transmit the reports of portions thereof to a system administrator. Method 700 may end.

FIG. 8 depicts some salient operations of a method 800 according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Method is generally performed by report server 250, according to the illustrative embodiment.

At block 802, report server 250 may receive a query on block change activities from storage manager 240. The query may be on demand, e.g., issued by a system administrator via user interface 341 or may be a canned query. The query may be in any suitable format. The query may ask one or more of the following questions in any combination and permutation without limitation:

-   -   What backup jobs were triggered in a given time period as a         result of one or more block-change thresholds being passed by         block change activity in system 200? Which files were affected         and how many respective blocks were involved?     -   How many blocks changed in a given period of time in a given         data storage device or storage volume?     -   What is the block-change pattern during a given period of time?     -   Which file in system 200 experienced the most changed blocks in         a given time period? Which file grew the most?     -   Which file in system 200 experienced the most frequent block         changes in a given time period?     -   Which application 110 in system 200 is responsible for the most         block changes in a given time period?     -   Which “top 10” files experienced the most changed blocks in a         given time period?     -   Which “top 10” data storage devices experienced the most changed         blocks in a given time period, i.e., are the busiest data         storage devices?     -   What is the profile of data storage growth in part or all of         system 200? What future data storage needs can be extrapolated         from the growth pattern?     -   What storage needs can be anticipated for a given application         110 based on block change patterns?         The time periods may be any arbitrary figure, e.g., an hour, a         day, a month, a year, etc. A person having ordinary skill in the         art may devise further queries after reading the present         disclosure.

At block 804, after parsing the pending query, report server 250 may access block information database 362 in index server 260 in order extract the information required for responding to the query.

At block 805, report server 250 may extract information from block information database 362 sufficient to formulate a response to the pending query. For example, report server may extract one or more of the data structures described in FIG. 4, e.g., reverse lookup file-to-application mapping 467, reverse lookup block-to-file mapping 469, and/or any number of point-in-time bitmaps 461. For example, in discerning block change patterns and correlating them to particular files and/or applications 110, report server 250 may need to extract one or more of the various data structures available in block information database 362.

At block 806, report server 250 may process the extracted information info to formulate an answer to the query. Operations to be performed on the exemplary tables shown in FIG. 4 in order to process a query will be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art after reading the present disclosure. For example, if the query asks about the fastest growing file, point-in-time bitmaps 461 and block-to-file mapping 469 may be used to determine the answer. For example, if the query asks about the fastest growing application, point-in-time bitmaps 461 and block-to-file mapping 469 as well as file-to-application mapping 467 may be used in determining an answer. Any suitable format may be used for the response to the query, e.g., a file name and path thereto, an application identifier and the client computing device ID upon which the application executes; graphical renderings, such as a tabular report or a trend chart, comparisons, etc. in any combination and permutation without limitation. In some embodiments, report server 250 may be configured to identify information of particular interest that arises from responding to a query and may, in addition to formulating the answer, issue an email or warning message to a system administrator. For example, a file that requires very frequent backups due to a high rate of block changes may be specially flagged to a system administrator. Additionally, report server 250 may determine data growth pattern(s) for a specified data file (e.g., database) and/or client application (e.g., file system, database management system, mail server system, etc.). Additionally, report server 250 may predict future storage needs for a tracked application, specified file, storage volume, etc. based on the data collected by report server 250 from the other components in the system (see, e.g., FIG. 3). Accordingly, queries to report server 250 may ask about data growth patterns and predictions, not just synthesis of existing data so far collected.

At block 808, report server 250 may transmit the formulated query answer to storage manager 240, e.g., file IDs, application IDs, storage volumes, graphical renderings, comparisons, etc. Method 800 may end here.

In regard to the figures described herein, other embodiments are possible within the scope of the present invention, such that the above-recited components, steps, blocks, operations, and/or messages/requests/queries/instructions are differently arranged, sequenced, sub-divided, organized, and/or combined. In some embodiments, a different component may initiate or execute a given operation. For example, in some embodiments in which the index server and report server functionality executes on the same underlying computing device, access by report server 250 to block information database 362 may be a local operation.

Example Embodiments

A number of embodiments may be implemented within the scope of the present invention, including some of the examples given below, without limitation and in any combination and permutation.

MDA1. A method comprising:

transmitting a first query, by a first data agent that tracks an application to a second data agent that tracks a file system,

-   -   wherein the application, the file system, the first data agent,         and the second data agent execute on a first client computing         device comprising one or more processors and non-transitory         computer memory, and     -   wherein the first query requests file-to-data-block relationship         information about files that are accessible to the tracked         application,     -   wherein the file-to-data-block relationship information         identifies a first set of data blocks that store the contents of         the files, and     -   wherein the first set of data blocks are stored on a first data         storage device associated with the first client computing         device;

receiving, by the first data agent, the file-to-data-block relationship information based on a scan of the file system;

transmitting, by the first data agent to a second computing device, the file-to-data-block relationship information received from the second data agent;

monitoring, by the first data agent, write operations performed by the tracked application to the first data storage device;

maintaining, by the first data agent, a representation of changed data blocks resulting from the write operations performed by the tracked application;

periodically transmitting a time-stamped version of the representation of changed data blocks to the second computing device; and

re-initializing the maintained representation of changed data blocks following the transmitting operation.

MDA2. The method of claim MDA1 wherein the first data agent and the second data agent are components of a data storage management system that is managed by a storage manager; and

further comprising:

in response to one or more instructions received from the storage manager, performing, by the first data agent, at least part of a block-level backup of a second set of data blocks that were changed by the tracked application,

-   -   wherein the second set of data blocks is a subset of the first         set of data blocks,     -   wherein the block-level backup is triggered as a result of the         second computing device determining, based on a plurality of the         time-stamped version of the representation of changed data         blocks, that a threshold of changed data blocks has been passed         by the second set of changed data blocks.

MDA3. The method of claim MDA1 further comprising:

obtaining, by the second data agent, the file-to-data-block relationship information based on the scan of the file system; and

reporting, by the second data agent, the obtained file-to-data-block relationship information to the first data agent.

MDAM1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a first data agent that tracks an application, file-to-data-block relationship information about files that are accessible to the tracked application in a file system,

-   -   wherein the application, the file system, and the first data         agent execute on a first computing device comprising one or more         processors and non-transitory computer memory, and     -   wherein the file-to-data-block relationship information         identifies a first set of data blocks that store the contents of         the files, and     -   wherein the first set of data blocks are stored on a first data         storage device associated with the first computing device;

transmitting, by the first data agent to a second computing device, the file-to-data-block relationship information;

monitoring, by the first data agent, write operations performed by the tracked application to the first data storage device;

maintaining, by the first data agent, a representation of changed data blocks resulting from the write operations performed by the tracked application; and

periodically transmitting a time-stamped version of the representation of changed data blocks to the second computing device.

MDAM2. The method of claim MDAM1 further comprising: re-initializing the maintained representation of changed data blocks following the transmitting operation.

MDAM3. The method of claim MDAM1 wherein the first data agent is a component of a data storage management system that is managed by a storage manager; and

further comprising:

in response to one or more instructions received from the storage manager, performing, by the first data agent, at least part of a block-level backup of a second set of data blocks that were changed by the tracked application,

-   -   wherein the second set of data blocks is a subset of the first         set of data blocks,     -   wherein the block-level backup is triggered as a result of the         second computing device determining,         -   based on a plurality of the time-stamped version of the             representation of changed data blocks,         -   that a threshold of changed data blocks has been passed by             the second set of changed data blocks.

MDAM4. The method of claim MDAM1 wherein the first data agent is a component of a data storage management system that is managed by a storage manager; and

further comprising:

-   -   receiving, by the second computing device, a plurality of         time-stamped versions of the representation of changed data         blocks maintained by the first computing device; and     -   in response to a query received from the storage manager,         determining, by the second computing device,         -   based at least in part on (a) the file-to-data-block             relationship information and (b) the plurality of             time-stamped versions of the representation of changed data             blocks resulting from the write operations performed by the             tracked application,             -   which files in the file system comprise the changed data                 blocks, thereby performing a reverse lookup of the                 block-level changes tracked by the data agent.

MM1. A computer-readable medium, excluding transitory propagating signals, storing instructions that, when executed by at least one computing device comprising respective one or more processors and non-transitory computer memory, cause the secondary storage computing device to perform operations comprising:

obtaining, by a first data agent that tracks an application, file-to-data-block relationship information about files that are accessible to the tracked application in a file system,

-   -   wherein the application, the file system, and the first data         agent execute on a first computing device of the at least one         computing device computing device, and     -   wherein the file-to-data-block relationship information         identifies a first set of data blocks that store the contents of         the files, and     -   wherein the first set of data blocks are stored on a first data         storage device associated with the first computing device;

transmitting, by the first data agent to a second computing device of the at least one computing device, the file-to-data-block relationship information;

monitoring, by the first data agent, write operations performed by the tracked application to the first data storage device;

maintaining, by the first data agent, a representation of changed data blocks resulting from the write operations performed by the tracked application; and

periodically transmitting a time-stamped version of the representation of changed data blocks to the second computing device.

MM2. The computer-readable medium of claim MM1 wherein the instructions further comprise: re-initializing the maintained representation of changed data blocks following the transmitting operation.

MM3. The computer-readable medium of claim MM1 wherein the first data agent is a component of a data storage management system that is managed by a storage manager; and

wherein the instructions further comprise:

in response to one or more instructions received from the storage manager, performing, by the first data agent, at least part of a block-level backup of a second set of data blocks that were changed by the tracked application,

-   -   wherein the second set of data blocks is a subset of the first         set of data blocks,     -   wherein the block-level backup is triggered as a result of the         second computing device determining,         -   based on a plurality of the time-stamped version of the             representation of changed data blocks,         -   that a threshold of changed data blocks has been passed by             the second set of changed data blocks.

MM4. The computer-readable medium of claim MM1 wherein the first data agent is a component of a data storage management system that is managed by a storage manager; and

-   -   wherein the instructions further comprise:     -   receiving, by the second computing device, a plurality of         time-stamped versions of the representation of changed data         blocks maintained by the first computing device; and     -   in response to a query received from the storage manager,         determining, by the second computing device,         -   based at least in part on (a) the file-to-data-block             relationship information and (b) the plurality of             time-stamped versions of the representation of changed data             blocks resulting from the write operations performed by the             tracked application,             -   which files in the file system comprise the changed data                 blocks, thereby performing a reverse lookup of the                 block-level changes tracked by the data agent.

IDXM1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device, a first threshold to monitor for block changes,

-   -   wherein the first threshold comprises a measure of changed data         blocks;

receiving, by the first computing device, a plurality of point-in-time representations of changed data blocks stored in a first data storage device,

-   -   wherein the changed data blocks result from write operations         performed by an application that executes on a second computing         device associated with the first data storage device,     -   wherein the plurality of point-in-time representations of         changed data blocks are received from a data agent that tracks         the application, and     -   wherein the data agent also executes on the second computing         device;

determining, by the first computing device, that the first threshold has been passed by a first set of changed data blocks,

-   -   wherein the determining results from analyzing the plurality of         point-in-time representations of changed data blocks, and     -   wherein the first set of changed data blocks exceeds the measure         of changed data blocks in the first threshold; and

based on the first threshold having been passed,

-   -   causing, by the first computing device, a block-level backup to         be performed of the first set of changed data blocks.

IDXM2. The method of claim IDXM1 wherein the first set of changed data blocks is a subset of a second set of data blocks that store the contents of a first file; and

wherein the block-level backup of the first set of changed data blocks does not backup up the first file in its entirety.

IDXM3. The method of claim IDXM1 wherein the data agent is a component of a data storage management system that is managed by a storage manager; and

wherein the causing of the block-level backup comprises:

-   -   transmitting, by the first computing device to the storage         manager, an indication that the first threshold has been passed         by the first set of changed data blocks,     -   initiating the block-level backup, by the storage manager, which         comprises instructing the data agent and a media agent to         perform the block-level backup of the first set of changed data         blocks, and     -   storing a secondary copy of the first set of changed data blocks         to a second data storage device,     -   wherein the media agent and the second data storage device are         also components of the data storage management system.

IDXM4. The method of claim IDXM3 wherein the first threshold is received from the storage manager.

IDXM5. The method of claim IDXM1 further comprising:

receiving, by the first computing device, file-to-data-block relationship information about any files that are accessible to the application on one or more data storage devices including the first data storage device,

-   -   wherein the received file-to-data-block relationship information         identifies a second set of data blocks that store the contents         of the files accessible to the application;

indexing, by the first computing device, the received file-to-data-block relationship information into a data-block-to-file mapping; and

identifying, by the first computing device, based on the data-block-to-file mapping, which one or more files accessible to the application comprise the changed data blocks in the first set of changed data blocks.

IDXM6. The method of claim IDXM5 wherein the file-to-data-block relationship information is received from the data agent,

-   -   wherein the data agent received the file-to-data-block         relationship information from a file-system data agent that also         executes on the second computing device, and     -   wherein the file-system data agent is also a component of the         data storage management system.

IDXM7. The method of claim IDXM5 further comprising:

receiving, by the first computing device, application-to-file relationship information about the files that are accessible to the application on the one or more data storage devices including the first data storage device;

indexing, by the first computing device, the received application-to-file relationship information into a file-to-application mapping; and

identifying, by the first computing device, based on the application-to-file mapping and the data-block-to-file mapping, the identity of the application that changed the changed data blocks in the first set of changed data blocks.

IDXM8. The method of claim IDXM3 wherein the first threshold identifies a file; and

wherein the first computing device is further programmed to determine when changes in data blocks that store the contents of the file pass the measure of changed data blocks in the threshold.

IDXM9. The method of claim IDXM3 wherein the first threshold identifies a file; and

wherein the first computing device is further programmed to determine when changes in data blocks that store the contents of the file pass the measure of changed data blocks in the threshold, and

wherein a data-block-to-file mapping generated from indexing file-to-data-block relationship information received from the second computing device is used in the determine operation.

SMM1. A method comprising:

storing, by a first computing device to a first database, a first threshold for monitoring data block changes resulting from write operations performed by one or more applications,

-   -   wherein the one or more applications execute on one or more         client computing devices that are distinct from the first         computing device,     -   wherein the first threshold comprises a measure of changed data         blocks as an operational parameter;

transmitting, by the first computing device to a second computing device that is distinct from the one or more client computing devices, the first threshold;

receiving, by the first computing device, an indication from the second computing device that the first threshold has been passed,

-   -   wherein a first set of changed data blocks exceeded the measure         of changed data blocks in the first threshold;

initiating, by the first computing device, a block-level backup of the first set of changed data blocks,

-   -   wherein the block-level backup results in a secondary copy of         the first set of changed data blocks stored to a second data         storage device; and

transmitting, by the first computing device to the second computing device, an indication of completion of the block-level backup of the first set of changed data blocks.

SMM2. The method of claim SMM1 wherein the indication of completion of the block-level backup causes the second computing device to re-initialize tracking of changed data blocks relative to the first threshold.

SMM3. The method of claim SMM1 wherein the first set of changed data blocks that are backed up in the block-level backup store part of the contents of a first file, and

wherein the first file is not backed up in its entirety by the block-level backup.

SMM4. The method of claim SMM1 wherein the passing of the first threshold by the first set of data blocks causes the block-level backup of the first set of changed data blocks, and

wherein a first file that comprises the first set of changed data blocks as well as other data blocks is not backed up in its entirety by the block-level backup.

RPTM1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device, a first query about data block changes in a data storage management system;

accessing, by the first computing device, a database of block information,

-   -   wherein the database comprises a plurality of point-in-time         representations of changed data blocks received from one or more         data agents tracking respective applications that change data         blocks via write operations, and     -   wherein the one or more data agents are components of the data         storage management system;

extracting data from the database, based on one or more parameters in the first query;

formulating an answer to the first query based on the extracted data; and

transmitting the answer in response to the first query.

RPTM2. The method of claim RPTM1 wherein one of the one or more parameters in the first query is a file identifier;

wherein the database of block information further comprises file-to-data-block relationship information for identifying data blocks that store the contents of a respective file;

wherein the file comprises a first set of data blocks that store the contents of the file; and

wherein, based on the file-to-data-block relationship information and one or more point-in-time representations of changed data blocks, the first computing device determines that the file experienced one or more data block changes.

RPTM3. The method of claim RPTM1 wherein one of the one or more parameters specified in the first query is a file identifier;

wherein the database of block information further comprises file-to-data-block relationship information for identifying data blocks that store the contents of a respective file;

wherein the file comprises a first set of data blocks that store the contents of the file; and

wherein, based on the file-to-data-block relationship information and one or more point-in-time representations of changed data blocks, the first computing device provides a prediction of data growth for the first file.

RPTM4. The method of claim RPTM1 wherein the first query identifies a fifth set of data blocks in the system; and

wherein based at least in part on one or more point-in-time maps and a data-block-to-file mapping extracted from the database, the report server is further programmed to determine which one or more files experienced changes that occurred within the fifth set of data blocks.

RPTM5. The method of claim RPTM1 wherein the first query identifies a storage volume in the system; and

wherein based at least in part on one or more point-in-time maps and a data-block-to-file mapping extracted from the database, the report server is further programmed to determine which one or more files experienced changes that occurred within the storage volume.

SY1. A system for data storage management, the system comprising:

a storage manager comprising a computing device that comprises one or more processors and non-transitory computer memory;

an index server in communication with the storage manager, wherein the index server comprises a computing device that comprises one or more processors and non-transitory computer memory;

a client computing device in communication with the storage manager and the index server, wherein the client computing device comprises one or more processors and non-transitory computer memory for executing an application, a first data agent that tracks the application, a file system, and a second data agent that tracks the file system;

a first data storage device in communication with the client computing device, wherein the first data storage device stores one or more data files accessible by the application,

-   -   wherein a first set of data blocks store the contents of the one         or more data files;

wherein the first data agent is programmed to:

-   -   monitor write operations performed by the application to the         first data storage device,     -   identify data blocks changing as a result of the write         operations,     -   maintain a representation of changed data blocks in the first         data storage device resulting from the write operations,     -   periodically transmit a time-stamped version of the         representation of changed data blocks, designated a         point-in-time map, to the index server and re-initialize the         representation of changed data blocks maintained by the first         data agent; and

wherein the index server is programmed to:

-   -   receive a plurality of point-in-time maps,     -   keep count of changed data blocks over time based on the         point-in-time maps,     -   determine that a threshold of data block changes has been passed         by a second set of changed data blocks in the point-in-time         maps, and     -   notify the storage manager of the threshold having been passed;         and

wherein the storage manager is programmed to:

-   -   based on receiving notice from the index server that the         threshold has been passed, initiate a block-level backup of the         second set of changed data blocks.

SY2. The system of claim SY1 wherein the second set of changed data blocks is a subset of a third set of data blocks that store the contents of a first file accessible by the application; and

wherein the block-level backup of the second set of changed data blocks does not backup up the first file in its entirety.

SY3. The system of claim SY1 wherein the threshold applies to a first file accessible by the application;

wherein the second data agent that monitors the file system is programmed to:

-   -   transmit to the first data agent file-to-data-block relationship         information about any files in the file system that are         accessible to the application,     -   wherein the file-to-data-block relationship information         identifies the first set of data blocks that store the contents         of the files in the file system that are accessible to the         application, and     -   wherein the second set of changed data blocks is a subset of the         first set of data blocks; and

wherein the index server is further programmed to:

-   -   index the file-to-data-block relationship information received         from the data agent into a data-block-to-file mapping, and     -   further determine, based on the data-block-to-file mapping, that         the second set of changed data blocks store contents of the         first file; and

wherein the block-level backup of the second set of changed data blocks does not backup up the first file in its entirety.

SY4. The system of claim SY1 wherein a first storage volume on the first data storage device stores the first set of the data blocks that store the contents of the files in the file system that are accessible to the application; and

wherein the block-level backup of the second set of changed data blocks does not back up the first storage volume in its entirety.

SY5. The system of claim SY1 further comprising:

a report server in communication with the storage manager and the index server, wherein the report server comprises one or more processors and non-transitory computer memory; and

wherein the report server is programmed to:

receive a first query about data block changes in the system,

access a database in the index server that comprises the plurality of point-in-time maps,

extract data from the database, and

formulate an answer to the query based on the data extracted from the database in the index server.

SY6. The system of claim SY5 wherein the first query identifies a second file,

-   -   wherein the file comprises a fourth set of data blocks that         store the contents of the file; and

wherein based at least in part on one or more point-in-time maps and file-to-data-block relationship information extracted from the database, the report server is further programmed to determine changes that occurred within the fourth set of data blocks that store the contents of the second file.

SY7. The system of claim SY5 wherein the first query identifies a fifth set of data blocks in the system; and

wherein based at least in part on one or more point-in-time maps and a data-block-to-file mapping extracted from the database, the report server is further programmed to determine which one or more files experienced changes that occurred within the fifth set of data blocks.

In other embodiments, a system or systems may operate according to one or more of the methods and/or computer-readable media recited in the preceding paragraphs. In yet other embodiments, a method or methods may operate according to one or more of the systems and/or computer-readable media recited in the preceding paragraphs. In yet more embodiments, a computer-readable medium or media, excluding transitory propagating signals, may cause one or more computing devices having one or more processors and non-transitory computer-readable memory to operate according to one or more of the systems and/or methods recited in the preceding paragraphs.

TERMINOLOGY

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense, i.e., in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” or any variant thereof means any connection or coupling, either direct or indirect, between two or more elements; the coupling or connection between the elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where the context permits, words using the singular or plural number may also include the plural or singular number respectively. The word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any one of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list. Likewise the term “and/or” in reference to a list of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any one of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.

In some embodiments, certain operations, acts, events, or functions of any of the algorithms described herein can be performed in a different sequence, can be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g., not all are necessary for the practice of the algorithms). In certain embodiments, operations, acts, functions, or events can be performed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing, interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or on other parallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware, hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardware suitable for the purposes described. Software and other modules may reside and execute on servers, workstations, personal computers, computerized tablets, PDAs, and other computing devices suitable for the purposes described herein. Software and other modules may be accessible via local computer memory, via a network, via a browser, or via other means suitable for the purposes described herein. Data structures described herein may comprise computer files, variables, programming arrays, programming structures, or any electronic information storage schemes or methods, or any combinations thereof, suitable for the purposes described herein. User interface elements described herein may comprise elements from graphical user interfaces, interactive voice response, command line interfaces, and other suitable interfaces.

Further, processing of the various components of the illustrated systems can be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and other computing resources. Two or more components of a system can be combined into fewer components. Various components of the illustrated systems can be implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather than in dedicated computer hardware systems and/or computing devices. Likewise, the data repositories shown can represent physical and/or logical data storage, including, e.g., storage area networks or other distributed storage systems. Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between the components shown represent possible paths of data flow, rather than actual connections between hardware. While some examples of possible connections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown can communicate with any other subset of components in various implementations.

Embodiments are also described above with reference to flow chart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products. Each block of the flow chart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flow chart illustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computer program instructions. Such instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, specially-equipped computer (e.g., comprising a high-performance database server, a graphics subsystem, etc.) or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor(s) of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to operate in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded to a computing device or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause operations to be performed on the computing device or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computing device or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Any patents and applications and other references noted above, including any that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the various references described above to provide yet further implementations of the invention. These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of the above Detailed Description. While the above description describes certain examples of the invention, and describes the best mode contemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, the invention can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may vary considerably in its specific implementation, while still being encompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above, particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific examples disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses not only the disclosed examples, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under the claims.

To reduce the number of claims, certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certain claim forms, but the applicant contemplates other aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. For example, while only one aspect of the invention is recited as a means-plus-function claim under 35 U.S.C sec. 112(f) (AIA), other aspects may likewise be embodied as a means-plus-function claim, or in other forms, such as being embodied in a computer-readable medium. Any claims intended to be treated under 35 U.S.C. §112(f) will begin with the words “means for”, but use of the term “for” in any other context is not intended to invoke treatment under 35 U.S.C. §112(f). Accordingly, the applicant reserves the right to pursue additional claims after filing this application, in either this application or in a continuing application. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: obtaining, by a first data agent that tracks an application, file-to-data-block relationship information about data files that are accessible to the tracked application in a file system, wherein the application, the file system, and the first data agent execute on a first computing device comprising one or more processors and non-transitory computer memory, and wherein the file-to-data-block relationship information identifies a first set of data blocks that store the contents of the data files on a first data storage device in communication with the first computing device; monitoring, by the first data agent, write operations performed by the tracked application to the first data storage device; maintaining, by the first data agent, a representation of changed data blocks resulting from the write operations performed by the tracked application; periodically transmitting a time-stamped version of the representation of changed data blocks to a second computing device; and when a threshold measure of changed data blocks is passed by a second set of data blocks changed by the tracked application among the first set of data blocks, performing a block-level backup of the second set of data blocks, performed at least in part by the first data agent, wherein the block-level backup excludes unchanged data blocks that are monitored by the first data agent.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the second set of data blocks store contents of a specific data file among the data files accessible to the tracked application but do not store contents of other of the data files accessible to the tracked application; and thereby resulting in the block-level backup of the second set of data blocks being based on changes to the specific data file.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold measures changed data blocks, over a pre-determined period of time, to a specific data file among the data files accessible to the tracked application; wherein the second set of data blocks store contents of the specific data file but do not store contents of other of the data files accessible to the tracked application; and thereby resulting in the block-level backup of the second set of data blocks being based on changes to the specific data file.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold measures changed data blocks by the tracked application over a pre-determined period of time; and thereby resulting in the block-level backup of the second set of data blocks being based on changes by the tracked application in the pre-determined period of time.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold measures changed data blocks in a storage volume in the first data storage device; wherein the second set of data blocks are stored in the storage volume and not elsewhere in the first data storage device; and thereby resulting in the block-level backup of the second set of data blocks being based on changes by the tracked application to the storage volume.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold measures a rate of change of data blocks changed by the tracked application; and thereby resulting in the block-level backup of the second set of data blocks being based on a rate of change of data blocks changed by the tracked application.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold measures a rate of change of data blocks to a specific data file among the data files accessible to the tracked application; wherein the second set of data blocks store contents of the specific data file but do not store contents of other of the data files accessible to the tracked application; and thereby resulting in the block-level backup of the second set of data blocks being based on the rate of change to the specific data file.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold measures changed data blocks in the file system; and thereby resulting in the block-level backup of the second set of data blocks being based on changes to the file system.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold measures a rate of change of data blocks changed in the file system; and thereby resulting in the block-level backup of the second set of data blocks being based on the rate of changes to the file system.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold measures a rate of change of data blocks changed in a storage volume in the first data storage device; wherein the second set of data blocks are stored in the storage volume and not elsewhere in the first data storage device; and thereby resulting in the block-level backup of the second set of data blocks being based on the rate of change to the storage volume.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first data agent obtains the file-to-data-block relationship information from a second data agent that also executes on the first computing device and tracks the file system comprising the contents of the data files.
 12. The method of claim 1 wherein the first data agent obtains the file-to-data-block relationship information from a second data agent that also executes on the first computing device and tracks the file system comprising the contents of the data files; and wherein the file-to-data-block relationship information is used to determine the threshold measure.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein the block-level backup is triggered as a result of the second computing device determining, based on a plurality of the time-stamped version of the representation of changed data blocks, that the threshold has been passed by the second set of data blocks changed by the tracked application among the first set of data blocks.
 14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first data agent is a component of a data storage management system that is managed by a storage manager; wherein the block-level backup is triggered as a result of the second computing device determining, based on a plurality of the time-stamped version of the representation of changed data blocks, that the threshold has been passed by the second set of data blocks changed by the tracked application among the first set of data blocks; and wherein the first data agent participates in the block-level backup in response to one or more instruction received from the storage manager after the second computing device determines that the threshold has been passed.
 15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first data agent is a component of a data storage management system that is managed by a storage manager; and further comprising: receiving, by the second computing device from the first data agent, a plurality of time-stamped versions of the representation of changed data blocks maintained by the first computing device; and in response to a query received from the storage manager, determining, by the second computing device, based at least in part on (a) the file-to-data-block relationship information and (b) the plurality of time-stamped versions of the representation of changed data blocks resulting from the write operations performed by the tracked application, which data files in the file system comprise the second set of data blocks, thereby performing a reverse lookup of the block-level changes tracked by the first data agent.
 16. A computer-readable medium, excluding transitory propagating signals, storing instructions that, when executed by at least one computing device comprising one or more processors and non-transitory computer memory, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising: obtaining, by a first data agent that tracks an application, file-to-data-block relationship information about data files that are accessible to the tracked application in a file system, wherein the application, the file system, and the first data agent execute on a first computing device, and wherein the file-to-data-block relationship information identifies a first set of data blocks that store the contents of the data files on a first data storage device in communication with the first computing device; monitoring, by the first data agent, write operations performed by the tracked application to the first data storage device; maintaining, by the first data agent, a representation of changed data blocks resulting from the write operations performed by the tracked application; periodically transmitting a time-stamped version of the representation of changed data blocks to a second computing device; and when a threshold measure of changed data blocks is passed by a second set of data blocks changed by the tracked application among the first set of data blocks, performing a block-level backup of the second set of data blocks, performed at least in part by the first data agent, wherein the block-level backup excludes unchanged data blocks that are monitored by the first data agent.
 17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the second set of data blocks store contents of a specific data file among the data files accessible to the tracked application but do not store contents of other of the data files accessible to the tracked application; and thereby resulting in the block-level backup of the second set of data blocks being based on changes to the specific data file.
 18. A method comprising: transmitting a first query, by a first data agent that tracks an application, to a second data agent that tracks a file system, wherein the application, the file system, the first data agent, and the second data agent execute on a first client computing device comprising one or more processors and non-transitory computer memory, and wherein the first query requests file-to-data-block relationship information about data files that are accessible to the tracked application, wherein the file-to-data-block relationship information identifies a first set of data blocks that store the contents of the data files on a first data storage device in communication with the first client computing device; receiving, by the first data agent from the second data agent, the file-to-data-block relationship information based on a scan of the file system; transmitting, by the first data agent to a second computing device, the file-to-data-block relationship information received from the second data agent; monitoring, by the first data agent, write operations performed by the tracked application to the first data storage device; maintaining, by the first data agent, a representation of changed data blocks resulting from the write operations performed by the tracked application; periodically transmitting a time-stamped version of the representation of changed data blocks to the second computing device; re-initializing the maintained representation of changed data blocks following the transmitting operation before transmitting a next time-stamped version; and wherein the file-to-data-block relationship information is used, by the second computing device, to determine whether, in a specific data file among the data files accessible to the tracked application, a threshold measure of changed data blocks has been passed.
 19. The method of claim 18 further comprising: when the threshold measure of changed data blocks in the specific data file has been passed by a second set of data blocks changed by the tracked application among the first set of data blocks, wherein the second set of data blocks store contents of the specific data file but do not store contents of other data files accessible to the tracked application, performing a block-level backup of the second set of data blocks, performed at least in part by the first data agent, wherein the block-level backup is based on changes to the specific data file.
 20. The method of claim 18 wherein the first data agent and the second data agent are components of a data storage management system that is managed by a storage manager; and further comprising: in response to one or more instructions received from the storage manager, performing, by the first data agent, at least part of a block-level backup of a second set of data blocks that were changed by the tracked application in the specific data file; and wherein the block-level backup is triggered as a result of determining, based on a plurality of the time-stamped version of the representation of changed data blocks, that the threshold measure of changed data blocks has been passed in reference to the specific data file. 